in ancient times, people took their shoes off as a display of humility or selflessness.

pastor allen rigg of calvary austin spoke about this in a massage like 9 months ago, & it really stuck. he gave many examples, but i have a few of my own:

 “shoes-off”:

• you write in a comment card at a restaurant, to tell managers about your crappy service (for the waiter’s own good, of course)
• you disregard your commitment to your family so you can feel the fleeting confidence boost from flirting with a coworker
• you find a way to revolve most conversations around you and your interests

***~~~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~~

remove the shoes. remove the barrier. remove all pretences. relax. it’s a way of saying you can be who you  are in front of someone…toss the film & filth aside, say in a humble way, “here they are-  my nasty, calloused, rancid smellin’ feet!” or better yet, “could you rinse off, disinfect,  soften the hardest, dirtiest parts of me… separate me from the silt & sludge of this  world”.  ok, guess that means i’ve come full circle, back to reason 1 – getting  clean. 

Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, so, each one had to take his shoes off first, right? he even scrubbed & wiped the sweaty grime from the feet of the man who he knew would commit treason against him that very day, resulting in his brutal murder.

it’s been embarrassing, even downright shameful for me to be barefoot (literally and symbolically), but that’s ok. taking that step can mean letting go of the crud, but at the same time embracing how i was made – i’m his disciple too, reluctantly letting even Jesus serve me & wash me clean.

~ how does one do that? ~

~ what’s something you’ve done this week that was “shoes-on” ~

well, c’mon, let me hear ya!