SECOND CHANCE SANDALS
“Ben…why
do you have to keep so much clutter?! …just
look at those old, worn-out sandals! …
throw them away; you cannot keep all this stuff!”
(patiently,
sighing) “…my dear Hannah, I am sorry to upset your sense of order, but you
have no idea how special these sandals are to me. I have had them since I was a small child,
and I intend for our little Joseph to get them.
It seems like only yesterday when I asked my grandfather why he kept
them around. I remember his eyes welling
up with water and he began to tell me the saga of these sandals…”
“… are
you for real?! Your family heirloom is a
worn-out pair of sandals? What else did
you inherit in the estate, an old, moth-eaten kippah?! We have to stop hoarding!”
“dear
wife, granddad, as a child, asked his dad where he got those old, dry-rotting
sandals, and he was told of an old man, dying in his tent, thirty-five years
into “the Wilderness”. As he struggled
for his last few breaths, they called to him his family. Then, he looked at his oldest son, Tobias,
and handed him these sandals. He
whispered into his ear, ‘I wore these sandals, thirty-five years ago when I was
one of the “Twelve” sent in to check out our new home. We failed the LORD. We had seen so much, but we focused on the
giants, not God! He has purged and pruned us. You do better! Trust Him.
God has preserved these sandals for decades now. When you get there in a few years, He said,
forty years, you put on these sandals and march in to take the land, faithfully
and fearlessly!”
“I had
no idea … this is awesome …”
“Oh,
there’s more. Papa Toby strapped them on
when they marched around Jericho those seven days! But, as they conquered the land, he put them
up, and preserved them. To me, they say,
‘the LORD preserves us!’ Hannah, are you
not listening to this? Where are you
going with those shoes? Do not toss them
out!”
“…dear
husband, we will NEVER throw away these sandals; I am putting them up on the mantel for
display and protection and veneration.
The LORD does indeed protect and preserve his people!”
