Sandals

*Alright… So I really did pick a terrible time to be inspired… Because I have five minutes to write this! Bedtime at 12… you know how that is, eh?
So anyway… I attended a youth conference tonight called Desperation, hosted by New Life. Worship has always been my favorite way to hang with God… and Desperation’s worship is incredible! I love how there is a massive crowd of youth worshiping together.. So then if one kid doesn’t get into… It won’t bring the whole group down along with it.
I was so very much into worship tonight, singing my heart out… No paying any attention to the real lyrics the majority of the time… but half way through… I looked down.. And I realized that I was no longer wearing my shoes! I love this because without shoes… I feel so free! I feel like I can pretty much do anything.
So I love worshiping without my shoes on… it’s beautiful!
I was talking to my friend, Aaron Wagner, the other night about Moses. Aaron is… brilliant and looks at things in a way that I could never think of… so I’m quite glad he’s there to explain… everything to me. He was talking about what he thought the significance of Moses removing his sandals in the presence of the burning bush.
He recapped the story in a way… mentioning how God had appeared, and Moses left his job as a shepherd for a few moments… and how God told Moses to remove his shoes… for the ground he stood on was holy ground.
Aaron first asked me… who made the ground? God made the earth on which Moses stood… then he asked me… who made Moses? God created Moses. But who made the sandals Moses was wearing that separated Moses’ feet from the holy ground? Man did. Aaron talked about how a lot of the time… we come to worship and we try so hard to get into it… but the world is in our way. Like a wall between you and God… or sandals between your feet and the ground.
I thought about this a lot today while worshiping. When I realized my shoes had come off… I found that I was so much more able to dig into God. Maybe for you… it’s not your shoes… it May not even be an article of clothing… or even a man made, tangible object. It could possibly be a thought, or an image… Or even the person standing right next to you.
I also found myself worshiping… or trying my best to worship when I had my friends, Chelsea and Emily worshiping next to me. I was into it and God was right there! But I was too caught up in the fact that my friends were there… that it didn’t occur to me… that God wanted to be with them as well… but not with me.
I went up to the front later, I had brought my friend, Joy, with me. I was worshiping like mad… then Joy told me she had to go. I was nervous because she was the only one on that side of the large room that I knew… I freaked out a little… but then God told me… pretty much… “hey?! Silly Hannah! Don’t you realize that she was in between us?” This has really nothing to do with Joy, just that fact that she was my comfort. I wasn’t comfortable worshiping without her there… So was my worship with her… was it really serious? Or was it like… a show for myself? But after she had left… it was as if I had removed my sandals once again.
God made the earth on which Moses had stood… but He didn’t make the floor of New LIfe Church… so for me… it wasn’t fully the fact that my feet could touch one of God’s beautiful creations, but it was more… kind of a display God put on for me. And now I understand.
But oh man… it’s 12:14… meaning… 14 minutes pasted time to be done…

With shoes off,
Hannah

*Thank you, Aaron, for all your brilliance. I apologize if this was not at all what you were trying to say... But this is what I got from it... and it was good. =P

Written July 17, 2008