“Take off your sandals from your feet,
for the place where you are standing is holy” (Joshua 5:15).

There are only two instances in all of scripture where someone was commanded to take off their sandals. The first is recorded in Exodus 3:5 when Moses met God at the burning bush. The second is in Joshua 5:15. In this instance, the nation of Israel had just crossed the Jordan River after wandering in the wilderness for forty years. Moses was dead and God had just set Joshua apart to take his place. The people were about to begin the process of conquering the land God promised to Abraham, Jacob and Joseph. As Joshua surveyed the city of Jericho, he met the “Commander of the Lord’s army.” At that point, he was ordered to remove his sandals.

As I’ve considered the Lord’s command to Moses and Joshua to remove their sandals, the thought struck me that there was nothing special about the actual spot where they were standing that made it holy. For Moses it was on top of a mountain; for Joshua it was a random spot outside the city of Jericho. So, what was it about each place that made it holy, thereby requiring the removal of their sandals? Two things strike me in that regard.

First, each man was in the presence of the Lord. That fact alone makes any place holy. God’s presence makes it holy. But second, in each instance both men were on the verge of being used by God in a very unique way; Moses in leading the people out of Egypt, and Joshua in conquering the land.

That thought leads me to this observation. Any time we are about to be used by God in a special way constitutes holy work. As such, it becomes a time and a place to remove our sandals as a show of humility and obedience. Moses and Joshua had been prepared by the Lord for something special. Now it was time for each of them to act in accomplishing a God-sized task. You see, God always equips his leaders and asks them to move out in faith. In that sense, such activity on God’s part is holy. He puts his leaders on holy ground.

Can you see how this may apply to you? Here’s what I mean. Are you sensing that God is preparing you for something? You may not know what it is right now, but the time will come when you will. Further, can you faithfully view the process of preparing you as a holy process, one that will require you to move out with courage when God determines that the time is right? You see, there will come a time when God will make his plans plain. That’s holy ground! At such times, your response must be one of obedience, humility and faith.

Many have experienced such “holy ground”. It is both an exciting and scary place to be. Nonetheless, it’s the pattern whereby God uses his chosen people for his special purposes. Take off your sandals as you watch God at work!

Can I encourage you to read, re-read and read again the words of an anonymous Puritan writer? His prayer speaks to my heart and I trust to yours as well.

A Puritan Prayer 

“O God of grace, Thou hast imputed my sin to my substitute, and hast imputed his righteousness to my soul, clothing me with the bridegroom’s robe, decking me with jewels of holiness.

But in my Christian walk I am still in rags; my best prayers are stained with sin; my penitential tears are so much impurity; my confessions of wrong are so many aggravations of sin; my receiving the Spirit is tinctured with selfishness.

I need to repent of my repentance; I need my tears to be washed; I have no robe to bring to cover my sins, no loom to weave my own righteousness; I am always standing clothed in filthy garments, and by grace am always receiving change of raiment, for thou dost always justify the ungodly.

I am always going into the far country, and am always returning home as a prodigal, always saying Father, forgive me, and thou art always bringing forth the best robe.

Every morning let me wear it, every evening return to it, go out to the day’s work in it, be married in it, be wound in death in it, stand before the great white throne in it, enter heaven in it shining as the sun.

Grant me never to lose sight of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the exceeding righteousness of salvation, the exceeding glory of Christ, the exceeding beauty of holiness, the exceeding wonder of grace.”

 (Valley of Vision, p. 136)

“But he knows the way that I take; and when he has tried me,
I shall come out as gold” (Job 23:10).

The above passage caught my attention recently as I was reading “Streams in the Desert.” The author focused on the sovereign manner in which God uses the storms of life to refine us like gold. As I thought about that, it struck me anew that faith truly grows during the storms of life.

Faith is that God-given ability, when properly exercised that brings the unseen into plain view. Faith makes impossible things possible. It grows during the storms of life. It finds good soil and grows most rapidly to maturity during storms. For example, the strongest trees are found not in the thick shelter of the forest, but out in the open where they are buffeted from every direction by the elements. These are the trees that produce wood with the greatest strength.

And so it is in spiritual things. When you see a person of great spiritual strength and maturity, consider that their walk with the Lord most assuredly included storms that produced the strength and maturity we seek after and admire. Such people have learned that the path of faith is one of sorrow and joy, suffering and healing, comfort, tears and smiles, trials and victories, conflicts and triumphs, and also hardships, dangers, persecutions, misunderstanding, troubles and distress. These are the elements, the fertilizer, that make us grow in faith.

There is a deep lesson in this for each of us. You see, our natural response is to run from the storms as if they are bad. That’s not the way it works in God’s economy. Storms are not bad things from God’s perspective. It’s his way of producing gold. As contrary to human nature as it sounds, instead of running from the storm, we must (by faith) come to see that God does his best work when we run right into them. God promises to be there to meet us in the center of the storm.

I know you well enough to understand that there are storms in your life. Although the storms take a variety of forms, they are storms nonetheless. The winds are howling, the foundations are shaking, the windows are rattling, the water is rising, the sky is dark and the lightning is flashing. If that describes your situation, please understand that Job’s words speak to the depth of your heart. He wrote, “He knows the way I take.” That tells me that God is right there in the midst of the storm alongside of you. He’s there to strengthen, encourage, support and buttress your heart. If that describes you, embrace what God is doing for his glory and your good. The soil of your heart will never be the same. 

“Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have

mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but

do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not

feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in

their throat. Those who make them become like them;

so do all who trust in them” (Psalm 115:4-8).

One of the things I am learning about people in general (including myself) is that we become what we pursue. The Psalmist understood that quite well, hence the passage cited above. In this passage, the Psalmist lamented the many ways in which the people of his day created and pursued idols, what he called “the work of human hands.” In a devastating fashion, he made it a point to list the foolishness of setting up idols that can never speak, see, hear, smell, feel, or walk. In other words, their idols were worthless, utterly unable to bring deep and lasting pleasure to those who pursue them. And even worse, those who pursue them become unable to do any of the things the Psalmist listed.

Can you see how this leads to a question each of us must consider? The question is this: “What idols have you set up in your life?” And further, can you see how you are becoming like them?

We live in a culture that craves idols of one sort or another. I’m convinced that God has created us to worship something. Yet are any of the idols we create or worship able to bring us true joy or lasting happiness. I think you know the answer to that. And further, can you see how our quest for idols makes us shallow and exhausted as we pursue such worthless things?

In sharp contrast, the pursuit of God’s things, his word, his person, his people, his grace and prayer serve to make us more like him. In other words, becoming what we pursue works both ways, both for good and for bad.

Let me suggest something that might prove helpful as you examine whether you have established idols in your life. Ask yourself this question: “How do I spend my time, and what am I pursuing?” This is a practical as well as a heart exercise. How we spend our time and resources is a good barometer of what we worship. Further, what motivates us at a heart level likewise reveals what we worship.

If your time is spent pursuing worthless things, or if what motivates you is shallow and fleeting, be aware that over time you will become worthless and shallow as well. Those are strong words. Nonetheless, the psalmist made it clear that the pursuit of worthless things renders us worthless as well. By God’s grace, I don’t want to become shallow and worthless. How about you?

So after a very long car ride with excess July 4th traffic we finally made it to our hotel in Indiana. The students had great attitudes despite the fact that our drive took an extra 2 hours because of traffic. Our hope was to arrive to our hotel by 7:30 or so, but ended up here at 9:30.

Our plan is to get going by 7:00 in the morning so that we can arrive to Louisville by lunch. 

For me personally, I am very excited to see our students be impacted by the conference as a whole and to see what God has for them. As I have mentioned before, the national youth conferences that I attended in High School were some of the most significant times of growth for me personally. Interacting with a few of the students even today helps me to see that their intentions are in the right place. One of the things that a few of the students verbalized to me that I know will be a source of encouragement is the opportunity to worship our great God with 6500 other students!

Josh Schmidt reminded me of something that I would encourage you all to pray for our students about. He mentioned that he is excited for Life because he knows it will be a spiritual high for him that will last. But as we know, those spiritual mountain tops cannot last forever! So as you think about the students, pray that the spiritual high will last, and they will remember the experiences they have for their lifetime!

We will continue to keep you updated as the week unfolds!

For a full schedule of the week click on the following link. life-schedule.pdf

Greg