Where Are Your Shoes?

I have never been very good at wearing my shoes. Having been raised in Southeast Asia as a child, wearing shoes was not a common practice. Every year my mom would give me and my siblings hookworm medicine to prevent us from getting the awful things - or at least kill them if we had them (Oh how I hated that medicine - she disguised it in Tang - can I just say, "I hate Tang" to this very day!). But even now as an adult I hate wearing shoes and I am continuously taking my shoes off - my pedicurist hates that.

However, being raised in Thailand also left another lasting impression on me. Before a Thai person enters into the Buddhist temple or into another house, they remove their shoes. This is an act of respect, of not bringing that which is dirty into a place that is clean, or holy. I lived this ritual as a child. Whenever entering our home or another home we always removed our shoes. When we would take visitors to see the temples, we took our shoes off in respect of the customs of that culture as we entered in.

I also learned and observed something else. Whenever in the temple or in the presence of the King of Thailand, the people always had their shoes off. They also bowed very low - all the way to the ground. The further down a person went the greater the respect.

In my quest of desperation for the King of Kings - for the Lover of My Soul - My Heavenly Father, The Almighty God, The Prince of Peace, The Risen Christ - I find myself on my face...and you guessed it, with shoes no where to be found.