New Shoes

When I was seven years old, I remember getting my first pair of track shoes. These guys were amazing, kind of reminds me of the shoes “Bennie the Jet” Rodriquez’ wore in the movie Sandlot, they somehow made him invincible and superhuman, even a legend! That is how I felt when I first put on those new shoes. I know I could run faster, jump higher and even fly…. the reason I know is because I took them for a test drive. The feeling was magical, I even felt like those new shoes took me out of poverty and put me in a new economic stratosphere. For you girls, maybe it was a new pair of slippers that made you feel like a princess. When you placed them on your feet, you twirled off into distant lands into your new castle that awaited, as you embarked upon your colossal kingdom adventure.

It is amazing what a new pair of shoes can do to the heart, especially when you are young and full imagination. Unfortunately, the reality of time and life begins to erode the dreams of those distant lands, adventures and invincibility.

Jesus spoke to a woman at a well one afternoon in the heat of the day about living water. I know, you are saying to yourself “Tim …. what does “living water” have to do with new shoes”? Well, no pun intended, but this living water that Jesus offered her, like a new pair of shoes, put the sparkle back in her eyes… hope, possibility and imagination all came alive at once, I imagine!

I really believe that is at the heart of the Gospel, the Good News! Jesus is offering us a pair of new shoes, a new life filled with imagination, possibility, magical hope that can transform the hopeless and those who feel beyond repair.

Jesus also said that nothing is impossible to those who believe. That woman at the well believed the things Jesus told her! She was so excited when she put those new shoes on, so to speak, that she ran back to the town she had come from to tell everyone there about this man who was giving away new shoes. She was so excited that she left her bucket beside the well. I believe this is the power of the Gospel. God can and will restore that childlike faith and excitement, so much so, that you tend forget about the doldrums of your life and in passionate pursuit of your newfound love, run again with imagination, enthusiasm and expectation and tell everyone around about this man who gave you these new shoes.

I encourage you to come again to Jesus and ask him for a new pair of shoes today, listen to what he tells you and dare to believe and dream again.

How can I pray for You?

Prayer page — Vineyard Moss Bluff (vineyardmb.org)

~Pastor Tim