We’re in full-summer mode here in the Fletcher house. The kids are wrapping up their school for the year, giving us a bit more freedom. And the weather has been so beautiful, the outdoors call to us and we go to it as often as possible.

Declan has been enjoying every moment he can outside. He’s a heap of trouble of course. This spring my mom brought over a whole mess of flower bulbs for me to plant in our gardens. Well, all those bulbs have been excavated by Archeologist Declan and now reside in the playhouse-turned-museum for general viewing. Geologist Declan has been hard at work studying the rocks in our yard- which includes taking all the rocks out of our rock bed and scattering them across the yard- this makes mowing especially adventurous. The playhouse-turned-museum is most often used as a Cafe by the girls- lately their Cafe has been raided by Viking Declan, which doesn’t go over well. Sometimes they convince him to be Chef Declan, but he usually eats all the food before they can serve it or he refuses to cook- not the best employee. Then of course there’s the pond he’s making. He seems to think that since Dad goes off and builds ponds most days, then he should be able to make a pond too! Right now it’s just a small muddy puddle, but I believe that if he perseveres and continues the hard work by the end of summer it will be a medium-sized muddy puddle. (Pond photo included below.) And throughout it all, day by day, one cry rings out above the chaos, “Declan! Put your shoes on!” I can’t get the kid to keep his darn shoes on.

On Thursdays we try to go to the park with our co-op group. We went to French park which is a blast- there’s a large playground area and then also a really small water play area which is mostly for cooling off on hot days. Declan was drawn to the water area immediately and spent most of the time there. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before his sandals came off. Over the course of the time we were there he took his shoes on and off approximately 1,000,000 times. Then around 2:00 when it was in the high 80’s he ran from the water area without his shoes onto the hot, black playground equipment. Poor little guy tried to stay on his feet but without his shoes his feet were burning and he tumbled. As we sat together to dry his tears he looked up and said, “maybe I need those shoes.” Yeah, buddy. That’s what I’ve been telling you every day for the last month. He strapped his sandals back on, and went on to play in comfort and security. Without protection on his feet his foundation was no match for the heat.

That situation had me thinking about our spiritual armor, "having strapped on your feet the preparation of the gospel of peace.” (Eph. 6) I know that a lot of us have situations right now that are stealing peace from our lives- stress with friends and family, work concerns, finances, etc. A disappointing year has left many people burnt out, frazzled and alone. Many people these days are fighting spiritual battles. And of course we all go through different seasons of life- if you’re in a good one now you can be sure that you’ll have something that will disrupt your peace in the future. Are you prepared? Have you fitted yourself with the gospel of peace? If not, your life is going to feel like hot pavement on your bare feet when you encounter these situations. Jesus tell us in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” I happen to have a lot of friends struggling right now, all with various different things- some are wearing shoes and some are not. Let me cut this short and just simply say that those who are prepared with the gospel of peace are faring better. So, this is me calling to you… Friend, put your shoes on!