I don’t remember my first time traveling out of the country. I’ll have to ask my mother to be sure, but I think it happened when I was very young. I was born and raised in the United States. Nearly all of my growing up years were spent in Washington State very near to the Canadian border and my family would sometimes travel to British Columbia to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. Traveling to Canada never felt like going to a foreign country, except for the fact that there were border crossings guarded by police, and all of a sudden the signs were in English and French.
Before phones were very smart, and before I really knew much about navigating the world, I packed a bag, climbed on an airplane, and ventured out of my comfort zone. I don’t remember being hesitant since I was going to visit a close friend of mine. My first trip to a country I needed a passport to visit wasn’t supposed to be Mexico, but an adventure is still adventurous no matter how far away it may take you. I’ll never forget flying into Mexico City at night, watching the sprawling city beneath the plane seeming to go on forever.
Since that time I’ve packed hundreds of bags for hundreds of journeys, many of them to far off places. When I travel within the US I know that if I forget anything, or if my shoelaces break, I can usually stop at a store and buy what I might need. But replenishing depleted supplies isn’t always that simple. With that in mind, especially when I prepare for longer trips, I try to pack what I might need to prepare for as many different situations as I can. I realize that I can’t prepare for everything, and each trip is entirely different, but I do my best to anticipate needs based on my failed attempts at preparation from my past.
Footwear. This is something that has plagued my packing for a long time. Although I own multiple pairs of shoes, I would love nothing more than to have one comfortable pair of shoes or boots or sandals that I could wear all day, every day, no matter the weather, no matter the terrain. If I had a pair of shoes that looked as professional climbing mountains as they did on the Sabbath in the middle of services, and if they were perfectly comfortable in snow or rain or sand on the seashore I would be thrilled! I’ll let you know when I find those shoes. In the meantime the soles of shoes wear thin, water seeps inside, and jagged rocks puncture their lining and bruise their precious cargo.
“And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet” (Deuteronomy 29:5).
The ancient nation of Israel found themselves confined to a harsh wilderness for forty years. This would be a place where the strength and stamina of their footwear would be tested along with their hearts. God could have allowed them to suffer with discomfort, their feet in pain, periodically having to repair their sandals so they could walk a little longer in them. Once the leather of the soles and straps had become too thin or brittle they would have had to start from scratch and build themselves another pair. But in His mercy the Lord didn’t desire to torture His people.
Without divine intervention our shoes do wear out. Without divine intervention our bodies begin to deteriorate and eventually we die. But if our feet are divinely shod, then we will be ready to travel the entire length of our journey. “Stand therefore…having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace…praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all saints” (Ephesians 6:14a, 15, 18).
I know that no matter which shoes I decide to wear on my travels, if God doesn’t bless the work I go to do, then there is no point in beginning the journey. And so I pray, just as you do, that the steps I take are always with the purpose of doing His work, and that my feet which carry me are given His blessings. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” (Isaiah 52:7). I pray that God finds my feet beautiful, and that He gives me the strength to continue moving forward until the journey is done.
– Lewis VanAusdle
Leave a Reply