It's one thing to have a heart for what you're doing. It's quite another to put shoe leather to it. I am grateful to be part of a church that is on mission, "heart and sole."
Putting your sole into it means change. Putting sole into it means work. Putting sole into it means risk. Putting sole into it means having crucial conversations. Putting sole into it means learning how to say, "I'm sorry." Putting sole into it means learning how to say, "We're moving on." Putting sole into it means sacrifice and service. Putting sole into it means putting your money where your mission is. Putting sole into it means making principled decisions regardless of the way the wind is blowing. Putting sole into it means trusting and forgiving. Putting sole into it means caging your ego and surrendering your pride. Putting sole into it means quitting some things that work in order to discover what might work better. Putting sole into it means trying and failing and trying again. Putting sole into it means getting there early and staying late. Putting sole into it means research and study and hours and hours of prayer. Putting sole into it takes every week volunteers and a crazy committed staff. Putting sole into it means marching out of your comfort zone and into the “land in between.” Putting sole into it means committing to your own spiritual and professional growth. You will quit if you don’t. Putting sole into it means walking through difficulty and away from security. Putting sole into it means going where you’ve never gone, doing what you’ve never done, to reach who you’ve never reached. Putting sole into it means pain and struggle and ultimately victory.
So, here’s to all my friends out there who are putting cardboard in the bottoms of their spiritual and emotional shoes this morning. I know it hurts. I know you’re tired. I know it seems like the struggle will never end, but it will. Keep going! God is faithful.
“Do all that you have in mind,” his armor-bearer said. “Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul.” (1 Samuel 14:7)
