Shoes

Everyday, when I am getting ready for work, I sit down in our big, overstuffed recliner and I put on my socks and shoes. Gotta have something on my feet! If I didn't, my feet would get cold, especially on mornings like today . . . when is was 36 degrees outside!!

Do you put both socks on first and then both shoes? Or do you put one sock on and then one shoe, then the other sock and the other shoe. Reminds me of an All In The Family Episode. See the link at the bottom of this post.

Shoes are good. I wouldn't suck on them like my grandson does but I wouldn't take a walk on a gravel driveway without them! Although, I DO remember doing just that . . . walking on a gravel driveway that is. How come, when we walk across stones or something else that hurts our feet, we lift our arms up, like it will take some of the weight off? Weird.

Did you ever walk across seemingly "safe territory" in your bare feet, like a kitchen floor, and then step on something that was really hard with your heel? Youch!!! Man, I'd rather be on the gravel driveway! At least I would KNOW what was coming.

I don't have many shoes. I have a black pair, a brown pair, some casual shoes (brown) and some sandals. I have a couple pair of old, ratty tennis shoes in the garage - one for mowing the lawn and one for hiking, but that's it! My wife has WAY more shoes than I do.

My wife's shoe collection used to cover the floor of her closet. That was a lot of shoes! But apparently it wasn't enough. She bought a triple-decker shoe rack this summer. Now her shoes crawl up the wall, three-high, and they STILL cover the floor of her closet!!

If you think it sounds like my wife has a lot of shoes . . . have you ever heard of a woman named
Imelda Marcos? Her husband was the president of the Philippines until the mid-eighties. That lady had a lot of shoes - over 3,000 pair!!!

I have been thinking a lot about shoes lately and I have a question. But first, let's open up our Bibles to a couple of passages, the first one being in Exodus, the third chapter.

"Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” - Exodus 3:1-5

Now, for the second reading, I would like you to turn to the New Testament. The Book of Matthew.

"18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” - Matthew 18:18-20

And now for my question. My question is this . . . if, when two or more of us are gathered together and Jesus, who is fully God, is with us in spirit . . . why don't we take off our shoes? Wouldn't the place upon which we are standing be "holy ground"? God is there with us . . .

Or do we not think that God is really there at that very moment? When He has told us that He would be? And at the very least, why don't we act like God is standing there with us whenever we pray? I would think that we would pray differently, more reverently, if we truly believed that God was amongst us.

So that is my question for you today. If we knew we were going to be in the actual presence of Jesus later in today, how would we act? How would we behave before hand. Would we be trembling in fear because of all of the things we have done? What would we even say? Would we fall face down at His feet in total brokenness. And, if we truly believed that God was with us in church, because we are all "gathered in His name" . . . why do we not see row upon row of shoes on the floor outside our sanctuary doors?

John the Baptist once said about Jesus, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” - John 1:26-27

Shoes are part of our everyday wardrobe. EVERYBODY wears shoes. Perhaps we should "put on" Jesus before we set "foot" out there in the cold, dark world. Maybe we should act as if Jesus were walking with us because . . . . perhaps He is. Would you let Jesus wash our feet like he washed the feet of His disciples? That would be hard for me to do. He is our King! But he lowered Himself and became OUR sin. One could say that "he put on OUR shoes," exchanging our unworthy sandals for His so that we could walk with Him . . . forever. Think about that when you put on your shoes and socks tomorrow morning . . . and as long as you have your head bowed to tie your shoelaces . . . :)_

Shoes and Socks - All In The Family

Imelda's Shoes - a brief documentary on Imelda's shoe collection