Devotionals

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Last night, I looked at my well worn Belleville desert boots for the last time. I rarely get sentimental, but when you have to give up a piece of your personal history, things happen. Emotions well up.

Those old boots have been with me from before I started this adventure and I have worn them everyday. They were comfortable, like a glove for my feet. I have logged literally hundreds of miles in them.

I have walked across construction projects and finished buildings. I have walked across the desert sands and the banks of the Euphrates. They have never failed me, until yesterday. Yes, they failed me. Last night I could barely walk at the end of my day. Pain was shooting up my leg. It hurt.

At first, I tried to figure out what exactly I did to cause such pain. Did I step in a hole? Did I kick something? Was I bit by a scorpion? You know there are 1000 different types of scorpions here in Iraq. The answer was no. It had to be the boots. I have worn them out.

It is too bad. They were the most comfortable pair of boots that I have ever had. Now I am trying to break in a new pair. I doubt they will be half as comfortable. I will survive. I walk enough that I should be able to break these new boots in quickly.

I guess this is also a lesson in life. We never grow without some pain. If we never move beyond our old comfortable shell or boots, we can never see where the new boots will take us. Some situations will make us uncomfortable, those situations are what is best for our growth. Believe me, you will survive. God only gives us what we can handle.

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