A couple weeks ago, I went to Chicago with my family and bought my first pair of Toms. First of all, I love these new shoes because they are extremely comfortable with great arch support. Second of all, I love these shoes because for every pair you buy, the Toms organization gives a pair to a child in need. Third of all, I love these shoes because they can be worn with jeans OR with a sundress. Flexibility, my friends, is an incredible thing.
But most importantly, I love what these shoes symbolize to me. Call me an emotional girl if you want, but these Toms actually have great significance in my daily life and remind me of some pretty amazing facts.
1.) I have always had this beautiful vision that Christ, garments soaked in blood, welcomes ME, garments dirtied, into his arms and embraces me. When I back away, my garments are covered with His blood. I am forgiven. His blood has literally covered me. And until I actually see Christ face to face and realize His forgiveness fully, these red shoes that cover my feet are a little reminder to me that wherever I go, whatever I do, I am covered in Christ's blood. Wherever I travel, I am forgiven. Wherever I wander or run, Christ is there with me and I am loved. The bright red color of these Toms reminds me of that.
2.) Because of the grace and forgiveness that I see in the color red, these shoes also remind me to follow Jesus wherever I am going on my journey.
"'Come, let us go up to the mountain
of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us about His ways
so we may walk in His paths'...
For the mouth of the Lord of Hosts
has promised this:
Though all the peoples each walk
in the name of their gods [now],
we will walk in the name of Yahweh
our God
forever and ever."
- Micah 4:2, 4-5
I love these verses. With every step I take in these shoes (and every other pair that I own), I am walking in the name of Yahweh. The footnotes in my Bible call this walk "a life in covenant with the Lord". Wherever I go on my journey with Christ, may I be reminded that I have made a covenant with Him- a covenant to follow Him alone and to walk in His name alone!
And I can only assume that as I realize God's love and grace for me and as I follow His ways by remembering our covenant, adventure will never be far off from where I am. I mean, Jesus was not a lethargic and comfortable guy. He talked to those who no one else talked to and He healed those that no one else would touch. THAT is the true adventure, friends! The true adventure is following Jesus in such a way that He leads you into a radical relationship with Him- a relationship that naturally brings you to do crazy things that the world would never consider. Like eating dinner with a tax collector and talking to an adulteress.
Adventure happens when Jesus loves me radically, I love Jesus radically, and I can then in turn love people radically.
May I always walk God's way, confident in His forgiveness and love. And may I always be grateful for the meaningless items that can become symbols, even in a very tiny way, of those things. Like red Toms.
