My Shoes are Everywhere By Bambi Lynn

The other day I walked into my house. and like clockwork I took my shoes off wherever I was and left them there. The next morning, I tripped over one of my shoes. I then looked around and saw my shoes everywhere. I have a tendency of leaving my shoes in spots where I just stop. I have done this for years. Always has been a nuisance to whoever had to trip over them. Sometimes it was funny to see where they had landed. I tell myself that I will do better, to have a pile again to pick up days later.

 That day that I just slipped my shoes off and left them, made me think about all the places my shoes have been. I sat and thought of all the places these shoes have gone, I realized that we all leave our shoes somewhere. We walk with our shoes and step into places that we didn't think we would go and places that our shoes got stuck in one place listening to something that we can't get away from. My shoes have walked miles with me and at times stood to rest and breathe in the moment. To some people my shoes were a bother and to others my shoes were a blessing because they walked into a situation at just the right moment in time. Those times my shoes made an imprint on someone life. I began to think of my shoes in a different manner.

  I remember one time on a family trip with my twins when they were little, we went on a cover wagon adventure. The day was full of rain and by the evening the field where we had to go and eat was muddy and sloppy with horse manure mixed in the mud. My shoes kept getting stuck and my sons didn't have "play" shoes on. I looked at the situation and realized my shoes needed to be taken off. My shoes were a bother in this situation, so I told my boys to take off theirs and I took off mine. Taking my shoes off in that moment was monumental to me because those shoes were ruining my time with my boys, and I realized at that very moment. My attitude was going to make or break this adventure, so when the shoes came off so did my attitude. That trip has become one of my greatest memory of adventures with my sons.

 I remember another time that I thought my shoes were on Holy Ground, I had the urge to take them off. One of my sons was stationed in California. In the desert surrounded by mountains. The Army base was far of the beaten path, but the mountains made up for some of that.  My son and my former daughter in Love had a home on the base. I went to visit for Christmas the first year they were married. I wanted to walk a mountain, so they took me for a walk up a mountain near their house. I think it was three miles up to the mountain. I wanted to give up many times but, I just kept going. I wanted to get to the finish line, which was the top of the mountain, so my shoes kept getting me closer to the top. I was getting tired but, yet excited to see the army base and the scenery from the top. When we reach the top, I experienced something I wasn't expecting. The top of the mountain had a cross and two hug rocks, that had the words "grace" and the other rock said, "John 3:16." I can still feel the chills running through my body like as if I was there writing this. I told both of them that I felt like we were on Holy Ground and needed to pray. They both thought I was nuts but, I felt the urge to pray so I did. I got on my knees and lifted my hands and prayed. It is a moment I will never forget. My shoes lead to Holy Ground. This place and that moment will always hold a special place in my heart. As another rock has words spray painted on it. My grandsons' Isaac and his birthday are spray painted on one of those rocks. So as many more after us have climb that mountain and have experienced that mountain top moment, they also will see that a life had lived and will never be forgotten. My shoes that day took me to a place that will never be forgotten. My heart holds that moment that my shoes touch Holy Ground.

   I have spent the last fifteen years going in and out of people's homes for my job. My shoes have led me to homes and tables where stories have been told. My shoes went to the door that had no idea what was behind those doors. My shoes took me to the poorest areas to the six million home that sets on a hill in Malibu, my shoes have taken me to tables that someone had shared a story that would break your heart and tears would fall down my cheek. My shoes took me to stories of a single mom that all she had was a mattress on the floor and an old tv set up for her four babies. My shoes took me to doors that when the door was opened the stench was so bad that I had to try and hold my breathe while I was trying not to notice the filth but, see the person standing in front of me and understand she had a story, and I was sent to listen. My shoes have brought me to apartment buildings that were roach infested, and when i went into the apartment, I sat at the table listening to the heartache of someone's life pretending and ignoring that a roach didn't just fell from the ceiling as we are talking, and she was crying over her life. I have been in homes, taking my shoes off where the telephone rang and bad news was on the other end of the phone, getting the test results back that cancer has lurked its ugly head again. I held that stranger as if we were the best of friends. My shoes take me where I need to be at the right moment in time. My shoes have led me to stories that have changed me over the last fifteen years. My shoes were tools that were used to be at a door at just the right moment.

 I have gone to the water with my shoes to find direction for my life. I have sat on the sand and put my shoes aside to dig my feet into the sand to cry and seek an answer for my life. I have walked along the sand with my shoes in my hand singing praises from pain or from blessings that I have received. My shoes continue to lead me to places that give me answers. Never mattered what shoes I had on all that matters is that my shoes can journey with me. I think about the footsteps in the sand poem and notice when I see on set that God is carrying me with my shoes in tow, My shoes journey with me either on or off. They help led me to the water where my tears can be washed away, and my worries are thrown into the waves. My shoes leave footprints in the sand that reminds me that footprints are everywhere we go.

  When I see my shoes all around my apartment, I see them in a different light now. I see healing in those soles of my shoes. I see miles and miles of purpose; they take me to places that I am needed the most. My shoes are never a mistake of where they have been planted, but the become seeds that will continue to grow in my life and in the life of experienced I have had. My shoes may be a nuisance sometimes because they are just thrown around in my apartment but, to others my shoes marching up to them have been their lifeline and that I am thankful for.

                             WHERE YOU GO I WILL FOLLOW