Take Off Your Sandals

I think I have started many posts with "What a weekend" and this past one was no different.  I ran the 5K on Saturday with my oldest son.  He won 3rd place for his age group, so did really well.  I, uh, finished the race, let's say.  It was one of the hottest days of the summer and coupled with the hills, it was much harder than I remembered.  I usually run in the coolest time of the day and find that much easier to handle.  I definitely won the reddest face award.  But I did it and enjoyed our afternoon at the winery that hosted it afterward!  I ran again today, though no race is coming up now, just to show myself I can still run even if there is no particular race to train for. 

The rest of the weekend was spent prepping for our son's manhood commissioning.  We did this several years ago when my oldest son turned 13.  We were a little behind on the next son, but as long we are in the 12-14 year mark, it's ok.  We were very close to missing church as it's easy to justify when there is so much prep to do, but my husband went with the oldest children and it was so good that he did.  He had been feeling so overwhelmed by life and he came back that morning telling me the pastor must have known what he was going through as he seemed to speak directly to him.  He spoke from Joshua 5, a very obscure passage, vs. 13-15.  Joshua looked up and sees a man with a drawn sword in his hand.  He asks him, "Are you for us, or for our adversaries?"  He simply says, "No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord.  Now I have come."  Joshua fell on his face to worship him and asked, "What does my Lord say to his servant?" and the man answered, "Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place you are standing is holy."  And Joshua did so.

The pastor elaborated on this by saying how we often approach God like this, "What do you want me to do next, in my life, work, with my kids, today, tomorrow....?"  God didn't answer Joshua with a game plan for battle, he simply said, "Worship."  The encouragement to my husband was to not allow himself to get distracted by all the questions he has for God like, "What should I do today?  Will you provide work?  What kind of work should I be pursuing?  Am I where you want me to be?"  Instead, he needs to just take off his sandals and worship.  God will show him what to do next if he continues to put Him first.  It was just what he needed to hear.

It was perfect timing as people arrived later that afternoon to watch my husband commission his son to manhood.  The neat thing about the whole ceremony is that it ends with my son receiving a sword from his father.  The passage that morning had the commander of the Lord's army holding a drawn sword, too.  But He wasn't there for battle, but to show Joshua the importance of worship.  We give our son a sword, not so he can go and use it on a field, but to remind him of the battle for his soul.  It was a good reminder, too, that God will fight for him, as long as he remembers to put Him first.

My husband described to those attending how it isn't necessary for every family to do ceremonies like the one we did, but we thought, with our sons, it would be helpful for them to be able to mark a day in their life when we considered them men.  Each one of the older children read to their brother something they had written to him noting how they had seen signs of manhood in him already and encouraging him to continue on in the role of being a man.  It was really amazing to hear what they had read as I hadn't helped them prepare word for word, but had directed them in what types of things they could say.  It was very moving.  Then I spoke to him, which is always a guaranteed good cry.  I made it almost to the end.

Then whoever wanted to from those attending were invited to share a verse or encouragement.  I only wish I had recorded all that they said.  Many spoke on how there will be challenges ahead, but to trust God in his future walk as a man.  Others talked about the battle to stay a boy, how the world will try to keep him from being a man.  Finally, my husband came up and described our son, how he is a quieter boy, but how on the inside deep things are going on.  There is much more to him.  Then he pulled out the sword.  On the outside, it looked like a regular sword, but when he drew it from the sheath, it was beautiful, shiny and had incredible detail to it.  He compared our son to the sword.  So much more to him than what is seen from just the outside.  We also gave him a leather bound study Bible to be his other "sword" to help him to do his true battle.

At this point, RM called up all the men and they came and surrounded my son, putting their hands on his shoulders.  A meaningful time of prayer followed.  I wanted to just stand back and take it all in, not close my eyes.  It was wonderful. 

When it was all said and done and I found myself in bed that night, I actually found myself lying there with a smile on my face that I had to purposely relax as I couldn't sleep with this smile going on!  What a special day, incredible memories. 

The next day, my son was pretty quiet about it all.  I asked him what his favourite part of the day was and he said, "Getting the sword."  According to my older son, he said he caught him more than once picking it up and beaming. 

On a practical note, these events cost money and we're always trying to figure out how to do them without breaking the bank.  As always, I wish I could serve the types of things I used to serve, all sorts of expensive little appetizers, etc., but we kept it really simple again, just a bar-b-que with burgers, sausages, and hotdogs.  Drinks were super simple, too, just iced tea, lemonade and water.  Nothing fancy!  I would have loved to have brought in a landscaper and finished the siding on my house, but alas, just the house and landscaping we have, but none of those things matter in the big picture.

So now there are 3 men in my house, my husband and two oldest boys.  Wow.  I thought I would have been just a mom to girls as that's what I knew growing up.  I spoke to my son that day and said, "Never in a million years did I think I would be a mom to 5 boys."  Yet God decided I would be.  I've heard it said about raising boys that I am raising a house of leaders.  Such a privilege and such a great responsibility.  I have so many questions for God on how I should do this, yet He only says, "Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy."  That's my answer.  I'm on holy ground, raising these boys to be men.