“SOGGY SHOES”
“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news
– Mark 1:9-11, 14-15
Jesus came out of the Jordan River with ‘soggy shoes!’ Every Christian should have a pair!
I was once the pastor to a man named Louis Peters. People in Taylor, TX knew him as “Mr. Louie”. He was born in 1878. I never met him until he was 103. And he was closer to 105 years old than he was 104 when he died. He was born in Round Rock TX and told me he remembered as a boy seeing the trains bring the red granite from Burnet and the hill country limestone blocks to build the Capitol Building in Austin. I got to pray in that building in 2013 on “Pearland Day” and I thought of him. He bought a farm in Hutto and worked the dirt with mules when he was 19 years old. Mr. Louie knew what it meant to walk in soggy shoes. Leading a mule team through Williamson County black gumbo will do that! He outlived 2 wives and a couple of his children and was a faithful man of the church. He had soggy shoes from arduous work, from the tears of grief and an understanding as a baptized child of God… he was called to love his God, his family, and his neighbor… because when one walks in soggy shoes… you leave an imprint behind.
I first met Mr. Peters, at the SPJST nursing home, and he didn’t know I was coming to bring him holy communion.
When I knocked on his door he was sitting on the edge of his bed. His glasses were as thick as the bottom of a Coke bottle, and he was reading a large print book of Psalms and next to him was a large print hymnal.
I attended his 103rd birthday and he was interviewed by a young female reporter from the Taylor News and she asked him… “Mr. Louie… if you could do anything you wanted today… what might that be?”… and his answer surprised everyone… as he squinted through his thick glasses out the window pointing to Mr. Marvin Stoll, a fellow church member, riding in an air-conditioned tractor cutting his maize field just about 100 yards away… and remember…Mr. Louie started out farming using a team of mules and was the first person in the county to own a tractor… and he said while pointing out the window… “if I could do anything I wanted… I’d get in an air-conditioned tractor like that and cut 8 rows of cotton at a time while listening to Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys on the headphones.” Everyone laughed… but none of us called Marvin Stoll to find out when we could take Mr. Louie over to his house for a ride.
Sometimes we get stuck in our soggy shoes… ‘cause it feels good and comfortable where we are that we don’t make the difficult effort to take another step forward to challenge or deepen our faith!
St. Mark reminds us… Jesus… refused to be stuck… as he walked out of the Jordan River with soggy shoes hearing God’s voice come down from heaven… “you are my son, the beloved… with you I am well pleased…” and Jesus hadn’t done a thing…
Because this is what happens to us in baptism… God leaves an imprint on us… as we are named and claimed a child of God… wiped clean of original sin and made a member of the body of Christ … the Christian community of power and love reminding us we never walk alone in life… and as the Holy Spirit stirs up the water… we are blessed with an indwelling of God’s Spirit giving us an eternal life in Jesus’ name… an eternal life given in baptism… not something we wait to get when we die. Jesus said, “follow me” and when we do… we first go into the water and back out into the world with soggy shoes… leaving an imprint behind as we remind others the Kingdom of God has come, and every day is a day to believe in the good news! Faith matters!
The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Gigee is a long-time resident of Pearland, having pastored four churches over the last four decades in Texas and Louisiana. Read more following Brian’s blog ‘murmurings’ at https://briangigee.wordpress.com/. Send comments and/or questions to godworks247365@gmail.com.
