New Shoes....

So the other day i headed into town, highly ambitiously attempting to buy only one pair of shoes.
I ended up walking out of House of Fraser having bought THREE pairs.

I was filled with mixed emotions, of both happiness and guilt. The shoes were beautiful and i was very much in love with them, but I was also aware that they were more shoes that I was not in need of, which encouraged me to feel guilty about my indulgence.

Having just finished reading the book 'Irresistible Revolution' by Shane Claibourne, i guess I'm feeling increasingly challenged about the way i live my life as a citizen of God's Kingdom. One of the things that really struck me from this book (a statement that also happens to be the title of my blog) is that the author devoted most of his life seeking the 'Jesus in everyone'. In a society where Jesus is largely a swearword, and church 'full of hypocrites', how can this be a possibility? Something that Shane Claibourne reminded me in his fantastic book, is that Jesus IS amongst the broken and the hurting, those that use his name in vain and the hypocrites in church:

'We have a God who enters the world through smallness - a baby refugee, a homeless rabbi, the lillies and the sparrows. We have a God who values the little offering of a couple of coins from a widow over the megacharity of millionaires. We have a God who speaks through little people - a stuttering spokesperson named Moses; the stubborn donkey of Balaam; a lying brothel owner named Rahab; an adulterous king named David; a ragtag bunch of disciples who betrayed, doubted and denied; and a converted terrorist named Paul'.
(Shane Claibourne, 'Irresistible Revolution')

One of our future all-age services focuses on this very theme of biblical theology; the story of God through history and into the future, and how we fit into that. I am encouraged to read and keep reading in the Bible that God can be found in the imperfect. It pains me to admit that I am not perfect, but no-one is. Christians are not perfect (and for goodness sake, everyone needs to stop expecting them to be - what a MYTH!) and it comforts me when i learn that God still works through that. I leads me to understand the point of my year as an intern, the true growth and journey that i am experiencing and the trials and challenges that i will face as part of that.

I guess having a weakness for beautiful shoes will always be my 'thing', but I continue to pray that seeing the weaknesses in other people will allow me to see Jesus in them, rather than a blatant imperfection. There is a saying that 'you can never have too much of what you love'; and one CAN (despite my pleas) have too many pairs of shoes. One can NEVER have enough of Jesus.

Time for a shoe cull i think......