I'm on a flight to Christchurch and I can't be bothered Reading. My glasses are in the overhead locker and the inflight mag offers liitle more than advertising and a few strange articles about not a lot. The safety video has taken a lesson from Virgin Airlines as all the actors have painted clothes. Naughty but viewable. I've decided to wait for the muffin and cup of coffee.
This is the time when I start observing people. I'm one of those annoying people who looks at other people without shame.
We really are a strange species. At on level all the same, but at another we try to be unique without standing out.
The man beside me is obviously a businessman from a main centre. I can tell this by the cut of the suit, shirt and flambouyant tie. Yet what interests me most is his shoes. They aren't real leather and they don't quite fit with the rest of his morning makeover. My shoes on the other hand are just right: comfortable and fasionably scruffy. I'm now obsessed by shoes. Interestingly everyone has shoes on: high heels, no heals, slip-ons, lace-ups, boots, socks and no socks. Amazing.
So what? My wife and daughter tell me that shoes are very important, especially purchasing of them: they are fasion accesories as well as foot protection. But why do we need them. From an evolutionary perspective, what are the implications of shoes on human foot development? Or, for our more literal biblical friends, if God designed the foot to operate without shoes why not have bare feet all the time?
Shoes are very personal. They're either for comfort, fasion or protection. Yet despite these reasons all shoes stand between us and the ground we walk on. That being the case they carry all our weight giving us a foundation to stand on. But what sort of foundation is it. Given what I'm seeing on the plane, some people, especially the women, are living dangerously.
Jesus told a parable about building our lives on rock or sand. One is reliable, the other shifts unpredictably. Most of us are driven by the need for comfort, fasion or protection, however none of these are good foundations for living as they are constantly shifting targets. I guess they are like sand in that regard.
Rock on the other hand is solid, largely immovable and is generally a reliable foundation. For Jesus it is our foundational principles of life. We only get one shot at it so we need to choose our foundation carefully.
Shoes are similar to life's principles, but what are they like? Reliable, tested, trustworth, stable, safe and fulfilling? Do they help or hinder?
What are the basic principles of your life? What is the foundation really like? For me it is the simple teaching of Jesus. Not easy, but trustworthy. And certainly not boring.
We all stand on something, but is that something any good? In the closet of life, do your shoes support or destabalise you. If it's the latter, it might be time to try something new.