My cousin who lives in the tri-cities area of Washington has come to Texas to visit. Concerned about the heat, I checked in on him yesterday. “Where are you now?” I asked. “With Chip and Joanna Gaines in Waco,” he answered. “Take off your shoes. You are on holy ground," I responded dramatically and for effect. “What happened here,” he wondered aloud. I told him my older brother threw a half dollar across the Brazos and chopped down a Cherry Tree. He wasn’t buying it. The city of Waco has different connotations for different people. Bad things have happened there. Good things have happened there. Like Bethlehem!
Where is Bethlehem first mentioned in the Bible? Genesis and Joshua mention it in passing. Then in Judges 19, the terrible story of the man and his murdered and dismembered concubine starts in Bethlehem. Later in 1 Samuel, the prophet Samuel goes there to find a second king for Israel in Jesse’s house. Bad news. Good news. How do you go from bad news to good news in Bethlehem? The little book of Ruth points the way. In Bethlehem, the “house of bread,” there was a famine. Naomi and her husband Elimelek left the promised land to go to Moab, of all places. So bad. But it gets worse. While there she lost her husband. Then she lost both of her sons. So bad. How bad? Naomi returned home empty with her one daughter-in-law Ruth and said, “Don’t call me Naomi (which means pleasant), call me Mara (which means bitter). But something good happened when she went home. Naomi and Ruth arrived in time for the barley harvest. God was about to work all the bad together to bring ultimate good.
You know the rest of the story. Boaz and Ruth fall in love. God gives Naomi an heir through their union. That heir Obed has a son named Jesse who has a son named David who has a descendant named Jesus. “Why is Waco holy ground?” my cousin asked in disbelief. “Well, our daughter Casey is there. We get to see her graduate this weekend. Then she will teach special needs kids at a school there.” My cousin knows our story about our daughter. God worked all the pain and bad things in her life together to bring ultimate good. My cousin took off his shoes. So should I.
