Barefoot and Praising

“If I can’t find God in the ordinary places of life, either I’m not looking hard enough or he’s not nearly as approachable as I need him to be. This is a paradox too. God appears in all the ordinary places, burning bushes, naked Barbies, plumbing disasters. But when he does, those places become holy. Moses had to take his shoes off.” ~from an interview with Marcus Goodyear, Barbies at Communion

Oh dear, the list of paradox things we could come up with about God is a mile long. No, it’s as long as we make it. Why is that people like to find the “paradox’ or irony things, inconsistencies, or absurdities about God rather than the truth? Perhaps they are afraid of the truth or deny it even exists. Truths like the one Marcus Goodyear pointed out that, “God appears in all the ordinary places, burning bushes, naked Barbies, plumbing disasters, you name it He’s there.


Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord. Did I mention Praise the Lord! It is a wonderful, comforting, strengthening feeling to know God’s everywhere. Everywhere we are willing to look for Him and recognize Him when we see Him.


I love looking for God wherever I go, He can be seen in absolutely everything. One day as I was going to church I passed a park where a group of 15-17 year old boys were practicing fly fishing. As I watched the adults go from boy to boy showing them how to cast I thought about Jesus. ‘Oh I can write something about this,’ I thought. Yes, it would make a perfect picture for a story about becoming fishers of men. Half tempted to stop for a quick photo shop I kept on going to church in hopes of them still being there when I got out. They weren’t.

God was there and I wasn’t even looking. If I would have been quick on my thinking I should have taken off my shoes in the car because of where I was, was holy ground. Being the driver of the car that might have been a little awkward but maybe we need to do that more often. Do it as recognition of recognizing God when we see Him.


As God is everywhere we should be walking around barefoot constantly because there is no ground that isn’t holy knowing that God’s presence is everywhere. Instead of the cliché women hate about being barefoot and pregnant, we should be barefoot and praising. Praising God for the fact that He is everywhere. Praising Him for His presence. Praising Him for being near.


We must never doubt the fact that God is present in our current situations, He not just up in the snow cap mountains, the rolling waves of the ocean, or the chirping birds sitting in the trees. He’s present in our troubles, He’s with us in our marriages, He travels with us in our journeys, and everywhere else


At times we can’t see Him but it doesn’t mean He’s not there. Situations can cloud even the best of vision but it doesn’t mean God is gone. As the clouds cover the mountains near my home I can always rest assure when they gone the mountains will still be there. The same is with the Lord, when life has our vision distorted or blocked we need to stand by our faith that God is still there, He is present, Praise the Lord.


Where we are is Holy ground because where we are is where God is also. Barefoot and Praising is a place we all can and should be.




Our host today is Cynthia at Great Brain Ideas. Run over there and watch the presence of God arrive ahead of you as others talk about seeing God wherever they are.


**See God in the pencils? Yes, not having Jesus in your life is like an unsharpened pencil, THERE IS NO POINT. See Him in the sunset in Central Oregon? Who else could paint such beauty, He even makes a cloudy day look pretty, showing a bright side to darkened clouds.