Dirty Shoes, Good News

Isaiah 52:7 NIV How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings , who proclaim salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

It was another busy day for everyone in my house. Work, school, housecleaning, making dinner, football practice. My son gets home and he knows the drill during football season----hit the shower as soon as he puts his things away. The bathroom door is closed and I can hear the water as I walk by. Good, he’s in there. He practiced really hard today and he smells it. I mean shows it. I walk in the kitchen ready to start dinner, and I see his dirty football cleats on the floor. Really? He knows better. My mind Is racing. See, just about everything in our house becomes a lesson. An opportunity to learn and improve. It’s a habit. Not because I’m some sort of super parent. No, it’s a habit from work. It’s hard to shift gears sometimes. I’m a training manager and I build high performance teams. We get that way by constantly looking for opportunities to learn and improve. Work life spilling into home life. Now that’s another blog.

Back to the dirty football cleats. I’m thinking about what I’m going to say to Ethan when he comes out. I look at them again, closer. They’re scuffed, but then I noticed he had written on them. Joshua 1:9. Romans 16:20. What? He did that? He did that! My eyes water up; big mom moment!

Once he’s cleaned up, he comes to the kitchen. I ask him about the shoes. He tells me, “Sorry I left them here mom. Tomorrow is the game. I brought them home to clean and re-write the bible verses on them.” Rewrite? Yes, he’s been doing this since they started practicing—before the season. No lesson for him. The lesson is for me.

I work for a Christian company. I get to talk about my faith all day. I listen to Christian music all day. It’s not that hard to walk out my faith there. But here he is. In public school. Walking out his faith in front of everyone. Walking in a world, that more and more doesn’t want to know Jesus Christ. Ethan is walking in this world with his heart on his sleeve. Or, rather, on his shoes.