John 13:12-17 (ESV)
“12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

I’m having a piece of cold pizza for breakfast, worried about an open house today, getting the last of the lawn done and the debris blown off the driveway, a memorial service, my wife’s dying parents. It’s comfortable in suburban Chicago today, gonna be a nice day. 5,600 miles away, people are wondering what their government is. 4,500 miles away Nice grieves as it recovers. A mentee who dropped out of sight is back on the streets but has had the good sense to call (diabetes not being treated, vision down to 10%, gotta find a place for him or it’s the bridges of Western Ave. again. Not sure where we’ll take him, another mentee is feeling called to lead. He might not get it this time like he didn’t get it the last time, but maybe he’ll get it the next time. As long as he keeps coming back, keeps reaching out. Mustard seeds.

Christ looks at us the same way.  He’s here to wash our feet. Washing feet back then was pretty gross – remember, barefoot, no sewers, donkeys/oxen/sheep/etc. weren’t curbed, much less dogs. Yet, our Lord and Savior washed our feet.  “Do you understand what I have done for you?” He asks. Do we? Can we?

Much hand wringing going on today.  Rightfully so. Mourning the loss of stability, lives, sobriety. Mourning. Maybe. Are you?

I heard this the other night.  There are glaciers and there are earthquakes. What do you do after an earthquake?  You pick up, get over the shock, go back to normal. What do you do after a glacier?

Jesus was a glacier, and the fight against Him is too. Daesh is an earthquake. Man’s inhumanity to man is a glacier that Christ unleashed another glacier on. We have choices on what the world will look like. It’s not about “them” fixing it. It’s about us washing feet, cleaning the crap out from between our collective toes and from under our collective toenails.

The last thing I have bandwidth to do today is to help pull someone off the street. I have to get the driveway swept up, the rest of the lawn mowed, the house cleaned for the open house, my dying in laws to visit, a memorial service to go to, some time to myself maybe.

Guess what.  It’s 6:35AM and the neighbors are out of town so I can fire up the lawnmower now.  I can get the lawn done by 7:30, the driveway and cleaning by 8:30. There’s someone who needs help and my crap can wait or I’ll get it done somehow. The lives of others are important too. If I’m Christlike, I should be serving them first, me second.  Sacrificially.

Whose feet will you wash today? What sacrifices will you make today? How about tomorrow?

One last question – will your life of service be an earthquake or a glacier?