A young woman attended a...
Illustration
A young woman attended a weekend conference. She had driven a long distance to be present. No one else in the conference knew her. In the course of a small group discussion each person was asked to share the most important contact he or she had outside the family circle. Finally, the young woman was asked to respond. She said that when she was about 10 years old Elton Trueblood visited her home. Her father was an elder in charge of the program at church where Dr. Trueblood was to speak, and he invited the speaker to stay in his home for a few days.
What impressed this young girl of 10 was that during the dinner conversations Trueblood would ask the adults at the table a number of stimulating questions, and then listen carefully to their answers. Then he would turn to the little girl and ask her the same questions and listen just as attentively to her answers. This dialogue continued at every meal.
The young woman told her small group: "He treated me as if I were an intelligent, sensitive, mature Christian. And that week I made up my mind that I was going to spend the rest of my life becoming one."
There must have been something in Naomi's example of living that impelled Ruth to make her watershed decision to follow her mother-in-law into the unknown.
What impressed this young girl of 10 was that during the dinner conversations Trueblood would ask the adults at the table a number of stimulating questions, and then listen carefully to their answers. Then he would turn to the little girl and ask her the same questions and listen just as attentively to her answers. This dialogue continued at every meal.
The young woman told her small group: "He treated me as if I were an intelligent, sensitive, mature Christian. And that week I made up my mind that I was going to spend the rest of my life becoming one."
There must have been something in Naomi's example of living that impelled Ruth to make her watershed decision to follow her mother-in-law into the unknown.
