shoes of peace

I was sharing with Matt the other night that as full and friend-filled this time away from home has been, there have been very few moments of p-e-a-c-e.  Time at dad’s, normally peaceful, was filled with wedding.  Time at Lisa’s, usually peaceful, was filled with new baby.  Time at Barb and Keith’s, usually peaceful, was filled with packing. 

Our most stable place since leaving Haiti has been the van, a snack filled mess of our six-each changes of clothing, 12 total changes of shoes, homeschool books, car activities, half bottles of water, cold medicine, chargers, presentation poster-boards and 12 thank you bags of Haitian coffee. 

It makes us long for the semi-peace of home, which of course, comes with lots of problems of its own.  Good talks with our friends there the last few days catch us up on a dead fridge, a finished washing machine, a geysering water pipe, vehicle insurance issues, a missing tax paper.  Cut feet, morning sickness, a bad cat. 

Which makes us wonder when we will have that peace.

Which reminds us that peace is not a place.

As I was singing through Lily’s Bible verse with her this morning, Ephesians 6:11, I was reminded that peace is something He tells us to put on every morning and to carry with us.  “Put on the full armoooooor of Gooood!” we sang, “So that we can staaaaand against the devil!” 

“What’s the full armor of God mean?” Lily obviously asked, and we pulled open Aunt Brenda’s Bible and looked at each part and discussed what they mean.

Belt of truth.  Breastplate of righteousness.  Helmet of salvation.  Sheild of Faith.  Sword of the Spirit, and the sandals of the preparation of the Gospel of Peace.

Trying to make each item easier for Lily to remember, I wasn’t sure how to shorten the sandals.  Shoes of readiness?  Shoes of preparation? Shoes of peace?

Those seem like very different things. 

I’ve been FEELING shoes of preparation.  Packing, prepared for ANYTHING.  Heading out, not sure when exactly we would be where exactly.  Heading to Georgia only to return quickly to Philly.  Heading to Columbus only to head right to Kansas.  Ready to speak, maybe one, maybe five times.  Ready for questions, ready for changes, ready for late nights, missed nap-times, dinner on the road (which looks a lot like a combination of previously mentioned snacks), ready to drive.

But shoes prepared for the Gospel of Peace?  The sword is described as being the Word of God.  But the shoes, as the Gospel.  The Gospel being a person.  The Person of Peace.  Shoes prepared for Jesus.

Our shoes sure have met a lot of Jesus these past weeks.  Met a lot of Jesus and met a lot of people Jesus dearly loves. 

But my only peace these days of continued crazy has been my times with that Person of Peace.  My peace is NOT a place.  It’s a Person.  The only Person who has been with me every step of the way.  The only person who I don’t have to travel to go see, or beg to come see me.

Your life might not be as tumultuous as ours right now, but that doesn’t mean that your end-of-the-day soul isn’t TIRED for peace.  Worn for peace.  Ready for some peace. 

Today, I need the same thing I always do--not for the world to hold still for 10 minutes, not for a home that allows me to put away the suitcases, not for two whole days of sameness—but just to slip into some Jesus, that His peace on my feet might not only dwell with me wherever I go, but that it might be left behind me.  

Reminding myself today: putting on Jesus doesn't happen by accident or to us.  SEEKING Him, He will be found.  We don't wake up in shoes.  We've got to go find them and deliberately put them on.  Take the time TODAY to sit with that Person of Peace...that He might go with us! 

side note:  We'll be worshipping with and sharing with our Seeds of Greatness family tomorrow, both at the 8 and 10:30 service...we'd love to see you there!