Rollercoasters!

So here’s what happened. Zac organised a trip to Belgium and Holland with friends to go to three theme parks, over the Jubilee holiday weekend . The trip was for three days to visit a different park each day and spend the each day on the rollercoasters. He loves rollercoasters. And so, it seemed did his friends. They all signed up. The trip was booked. The plans were made. Zac was really excited. He’d been planning the trip for months. A couple of weeks before the trip, one of the two drivers (only two of the group are 25 and able to drive a hire car) realised he’d double booked himself that weekend and couldn’t go on the trip. The other driver didn’t want to be the only driver, so he then pulled out. And then the trip couldn’t go ahead. Zac was gutted. He tried to rearrange the trip for August, but no-one would join him. Zac sent this message round our family WhatsApp group: “Anyone want to come with me to Belgium and Holland to go on rollercoasters?” He was desperate. Lisa said: “We’ll go!” The first I knew I’d been volunteered was when I read her message! Zac asked: “Are you serious, or is this a joke?” I replied: “No joke, we’re serious! We’ll go” So tomorrow Zac, Lisa and I are going to Belgium and Holland for three days…to go on rollercoasters! It will be fun. It will be a great time together, just the three of us with Zac leading us round theme parks. He knows everything there is know about the park. And the rides. He know the order we’ll be doing the rides in at each park. He knows how fast they go, how high they are, how much “air time” you get on which rides. We will simply follow him around the park and get on the rollercoasters. Or not! This trip is not what Lisa and I would have chosen, but it was offered and we took the opportunity to invest in our relationship with Zac. After all, how many more times will he want to go on holiday with his aging parents? Ruth did the same kind of thing. Her story was more challenging, but after the death of her father-in-law and her husband, she chose to invest in her relationship with Naomi and follow her back to Bethlehem from Moab. She had no idea what would happen. She had no idea she would meet a man called Boaz, marry him and become the mother of Obed and the great- grandmother of David, Kind David, the greatest King Israel ever had. Or that centuries later Jesus would be of the line of David! And she was from Moab, the enemies of Israel! It’s amazing how God works. Ruth made a choice out of love. She chose to stay with Naomi - a great act of love. And God, centuries later, would make a choice and in a great act of love would leave heaven and dwell with us in Jesus. God meets us in his choice to love. Our choice is to go to Belgium and Holland to go on rollercoasters. It’ll never make it into the Bible, but when we choose to love, who knows what God might do?