It’s one of those rare days where the sunshine calls us into its light and we have the freedom to follow. Yearning to feel the wind whip our faces, my man and I hop on his Harley, but every stop sign and every intersection, there’s a traffic jam. An obstacle course to our rush.

You’ve anticipated this day. As your season wanes, ebbing into the uncharted change which lies ahead, the shoreline gives way to the first hints of ocean. You’ve become increasingly aware of both the loss of the known and the openness of the unexplored horizon before you.

What would be left of you if your faith was subtracted? What parts of your emotions, relationships, ethics would remain? Would your physical life change? Your finances? Granted that we are body, soul, and spirit, does that mean two-thirds would remain if that one, troublesome part, the politically incorrect faith, was amputated?

Before we actually turn to the pages of the Book of Ruth, let’s set the stage and prepare our understanding. The words have different meaning when we know who is speaking. I listen differently to someone I might suspect to be a con artist than to my dearest friend. I can’t separate the words from the person speaking them.

Welcome to my virtual garden at the ocean’s edge. Come, lean into the winds blowing from eternity and let them touch you where you need it most. This is a place of holding raw reality in open hands to the Creator Who gives beauty for ashes, Who understands every fluttering heart beat, and Who loves us at our worst.