In my attempts to purge the house of unwanted and unnecessary stuff Ive been up in the attic today sorting out the shoes. When you have three boys its amazing how many shoes you have. They each have school shoes, gym shoes, slippers, pumps, sandals, wellies, football boots ( with varying arrangements of studs depending on the playing surface) wet shoes ( for the wetsuits) as well as any number of trainers and casual shoes. If they dont get trashed along the way ( and things like the footie boots are worn once a week for a very short time before they are grown out of) they get put up in the roof for the next boy to grow into.
Except of course one forgets. And then on a day like today I go up there and root through a huge pile of shoes and realise that half of them are now too small for Ben! So out they go. Very satisfying.
It got me to thinking about wearing handed down shoes . And walking in the shoes of those who have gone before us.
We all do it - we stand on the shoulders of giants. Starting with the disicples we owe all that we know of the life of Jesus to those who have gone before. The heroes of the faith - most of whom are nameless and faceless to us but who are seated in heavenly places with great honour. I cant wait to meet them. People who risked everything to bring us The Lord. Those who preached, translated and printed the Bible, were martyred for proclaiming truth. Those who were faithful Sunday by Sunday in showing generations of children the way to Jesus. Without all of those people I would not have the faith I have today.
And then there are the specific individuals who went before me. The leaders of the youth group where I first heard the gospel. Rupert Madeley who prayed me in, bought me my first Bible, explained so much of what was, at that time, still a mystery to me. Ted Collington, my first pastor - who put up with alot of nonsense from a very wild but super keen young Christian and helped to ground me in good teaching and lay the basis for a solid character. My amazing church family in Edinburgh ( you know who you are) who for ten years discipled and loved and rebuked and taught and showed me God in action. And gave me the most amazing opportunities to watch, try, fail and then succeed in so many areas. Especially the prophetic. Brian and Shirley Hayes. Colin Symes, David Hewitt, Rupert Ward, Bill Nisbet. I owe these good and godly people so much. Thank you. Yours are big shoes and following the ways in which you guys have walked has been a challenge.
As I look behind me and see where I have walked its an immense privilege to see that a few people are also following in my footsteps. My children ( I hope) and a handful of precious friends who have been influenced by some of the things I have said and shared and done and prayed over the past few years. Its an honour and a huge responsibility. And quite a thought - all those footprints over two thousand years leading onwards and upwards to heaven .
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