Shoes in bible times were never worn indoors.  So putting on sandals, a piece of leather tied onto the foot, was a sign of readiness for activity.  Acts of kindness…planned and random.

There have some beautiful sandals of kindness seen this summer…

1.  When homegrown tomatoes were dropped off at the church for anyone who wants them

2.  When a fellow KidMin servant brings the gift of drama and her own students to our church to share with our kids how bible stories were meant to come to life

3.  When a Mom who could be sitting by her neighborhood pool chooses instead to spend 3 weeks (yep, 3 weeks!) to share summer camp fun with our kids and the kids of other churches even AT the other churches

4.  When two Dads rush from work every day for 4 days just so they could carpool a small group of energetic and eager tweeners to a Marketplace VBS

5.  When a friend who likes to take pictures comes to our VBS after working all day to take closeups of active kids so we can cover our walls with professional photos of faith in action

6.  When a college student has a faith so great she rearranges her schedule so she can spend a week helping at a  VBS where she only knows me.  Now she knows all our kids and most of our youth!

7.  When a pastor takes a moment out of a busy day to be the voice of God and say, “Noah, Noah, build an ark” in a Bible Drama

8.  When a small group of women cut 300 kites with tails, for VBS decorations to be shared

9.  When a another pastor comes to remind us that we serve a creative God who has placed the gift of creativity within us all with glue, paint, crayons, and stuff

10.  When a ministry mentor comes to teach little people that even face painting can open the door to sharing the gospel and brings an entourage to play

11.  When a precious friend meets me at the car to carry my junk and offers to cover me when I am running late

The sandals of servants, just being kind.

Seen your share of sandals of kindness this summer?

Colossians 3:12 Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering.

Patsy Clairmont wrote, “A flip-flop is a slipper with the top down, and what’s more fun than a convertible on a summer’s day.”  Yep, after a season of wearing closed-in shoes, my feet scream “I’m free!” when I bring up the laundry basket of flip flops from their basement winter home.

Floral clothing, loose house dresses, and flip flops reflect a kick-back pace when we can count our blessings and agree with God when He made the world by saying, “It is good.”

Flip flops  encourage the cry from the bottom of our very soul that, “God is good, all the time.” “All the time, God is good.”

Adam Hamilton in “Why?” tells us that God bends bad to fit His will.  I know this to be true for all the blue ink in my bible.  The black words are God’s words to His people.  If it’s red, Jesus said it.  But the blue is His personal history with me.

When He resurrected dead places in my heart by His words of, “He told her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.'”  When He turned a foggy-head into a Claritin morning by His story with the woman at the well.  He made me laugh out loud when I turned from page 1903 to 1904 in my NIV Life Application Bible and read in red, “‘Leave her alone,” Jesus replied (John 12:7).

Good doesn’t emerge out of bad unless God’s redeeming hand is involved.  I have a magnet on my fridge that reads, “Life is hard, but God is good.”  Because He is.  This I know, because we have history.  And it is this personal history that makes me smile at His goodness.

A precious friend gave me a new pair of flip flops to wear when I became a Mimi.  They are black with shimmer straps and big, purple flowers.  That’s what the goodness of God looks like for me today.  A visual reflection of the bigness, shininess, and love of God in a season of goodness.

Psalm 116:12  “How can I repay the LORD for all His goodness to me?”