my barefoot manifesto
well, in all actuality, it’s more accurately ‘my barefoot credo’ but that’s all syntax.

from Wikipedia.org : A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature, but may also be life stance related. However, manifestos relating to religious belief are rather referred to as credo.

so here’s the story: i was at noriega point in destin, florida. i love the feeling of sand in my toes but i had already gotten out of my car and walked across the parking lot so i decided to hide my shoes under a bush. i figured no one would go out of their way to go all the way up under a bush to snag my shoes. well as i was leaving and looking to pick them up on the way to my car, i noticed they were gone. total disbelief. and to be honest, a bit of anger. i was ticked. so i just got mad at the world. i didn’t wear shoes. anywhere. my rebellion against the world’s cruelty. if the world (more truthfully God) was going to let my shoes be stolen then i just wasn’t going to wear them.

so i went on. barefoot.

and then i started to pray and think. i have shoes. i have plenty of shoes. an abundance if you will. and here i am, angry because someone took one pair of my multiple pairs of shoes. and i started thinking about all the thousands, possibly millions of kids who live everyday without shoes. what if the person who took my shoes had none of their own? what if the person who grabbed my shoes took them to comfort their own torn and tattered feet, worn from years of barefoot walking because i wouldn’t share? who am i to hoard my shoes?

so i continued to walk. barefoot.

and i continued to pray. and then some scripture, a memory, and a life change popped up. exodus 3:4-5 – [...And Moses said "Here I am." "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground."] and i remembered a foot washing service we did one night at killearn back in my early high school years. it might actually have been when i was in middle school. anyways, we all took our shoes off before we walked into the room and then we sat in groups and washed each others feet. and i felt God. intensely. and this summer i experienced what it is like to live a whole day for the glory of my Savior. what it’s like to truly serve Him all day and to have my whole life for that day be worship. and it just clicked. if my whole life is to be worship, and when i worship God and commune with God, it’s a holy place (i know everywhere i go isn’t necessarily holy ground, but just run with it). and i can do that everywhere. because of Jesus i can be with God everywhere.

so everywhere i go, i try to seek out God. barefoot.

—-
[therefore, i urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God -- this is your spiritual act of worship. do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- His good, pleasing, and perfect will.]
romans 12:1-2

“We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that He should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at His love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground.”
- From The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning