Do you consider yourself a risk-taker? Many of us don't. This applies to relationships as well as choosing to skydive out of an airplane. We don't like to stick our neck out in a relationship. We don't want to take the chance we might be rejected, made fun of, or avoided.

Yet it is risk - potentially very serious risk - in a relationship that we encounter in this week's passage. Ruth is counseled by her mother-in-law to take a big risk in order to provide long-term security for her. What did Naomi suggest? Will Ruth take the risk? How will it turn out?

If God speaks to us, will we risk a relationship to obey? What is God trying to teach us through a lowly peasant woman named Ruth?