New Shoes

Sometimes I'm almost convinced that God likes to mess with me.  Almost 2 weeks ago I got a new pair of dress shoes.  My wife had to convince me to get a pair while they were on sale so I just got a new pair of the same old worn down cracked ones I'd been wearing.  The next day I was excited to wear my nice new shoes to church.  That excitement faded when by the end of first service the shoes were rubbing my heals raw.  I then endured Sunday school wanting nothing more than to take my shoes off.  By the time we got out of class I was in substantial pain, but I still had one more service to go so I decided to go tough it out.  

After announcements the worship team came up to start the praise time and Pastor Mark began to share about Exodus 3 with Moses and The Burning Bush.  He talked about how God told Moses to take his sandals off his feet for he was standing on holy ground.  He explained that even though our location just a (church) building he wanted us to recognize that there in that service we were standing on holy ground.  He then asked us to please remove our shoes for the service!  All I could do was smile as I hurriedly removed my shoes and checked the back of my sock for blood.  

I don't know that God wanted the entire congregation to go shoeless just to mess with me, but He very well might have made sure I had just the right pair of shoes at just the right time to play into his little scheme.  We actually had a very powerful time of worship that morning, shoes or no, and all I can say is that I'm glad I decided to stay for the second service and add that I've been wearing those shoes ever since with no trouble whatsoever...