Muddy Shoes
The actual muddy road of the author (culvert drain is to the right)
Whenever I’m traveling down the highway and see an old dirt road it brings back fond memories of childhood. Most of my childhood years were spent growing up in the country. During those years, my family lived in various locations. I recall one such location where we lived on a dirt road. During dry weather the road was fine. However, rainy or bad weather made traveling a problem. This was especially true for my siblings and me on school days. On those days we had to walk to the paved road to catch the school bus. Since we didn’t want our good shoes to be a muddy mess when we arrived at school, we put on old shoes for walking the muddy road. Before the bus arrived we would remove our muddy shoes and put on our good clean shoes. We then placed our muddy shoes under the culvert (drain) until we returned home from school in the afternoon. How funny this little rainy weather procedure sounds to me now. However, this procedure kept us clean and presentable saving us from personal and emotional embarrassment.
As sinners we are just like those muddy shoes, for sin makes us unclean. Scripture says “We are all infected and impure with sin.” “When we proudly display our righteous deeds, we find they are but filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Thankfully, God’s Divine Plan provides a procedure for cleaning us like taking off muddy shoes and putting on clean ones. The blood of his son Jesus cleanses us from every sin through our faith in him. So, “If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us” (1 John 1:7,9).
Picture courtesy of hiveminer.com