Someone to Look After

During my second year of college I was scouting around for a place tonlive, as my roommates had dropped out of school. One Sunday afternchurch the pastor put his arm around me and said, "I understand younneed a room. Our daughter is in New Zealand this year as a foreignnexchange student. If you'd like to stay with us you may use her room."

To be honest, I really didn't want to stay with "the preacher'snfamily." I was 19 years old and on my own. But then he told me hownmuch rent would be -- a ridiculously low figure that included onenhome-cooked meal a day. I thought about the offer for about a minutenand decided to move in.

At the end of the semester I had planned to find other livingnarrangements, since the daughter was to return home. But they askednif I wanted to stay on another term, suggesting I move across thenhall and share a room with their son. By this time I seemed to havenbeen adopted into their family -- her people became my people, as itnwas put so beautifully in the old biblical story of Ruth. I happilynaccepted the offer.

As I vacated the daughter's bedroom, I thought it might be nice tonhave a little sister to look after. But when I later met my newnsister, I realized that this idea of looking after her might be moreninteresting tha
I first imagined.

We eventually fell in love, married, and have looked after onenanother for many years. There have been times that life turned out tonbe more challenging than either of us could have known. But we havenalways been able to go forward largely because we knew that somebodyndeeply cared.

It isn't about marriage ... it's about love. It's about mothers andnfathers, sisters and brothers and special friends who are as close asnfamily. It's about anybody who can say, "I'll be around -- you canncount on me. I'll try to look after you and sometimes I will neednyou to look after me."

Is there somebody you can depend on? And are others counting onnyou? We travel the path of life best when there is somebody to look nafter, and when someone is looking after us.