How beautiful are the feet...

For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." 

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? 

And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? 

And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 

And how are they to preach unless they are sent? 

As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

                                   ~Romans 10:13-15~

The first time I heard this verse referenced, I didn't realize it was a verse at all. 

I was just out of college and we'd been married two years (no children in sight) when we moved into married student housing at Southwestern Seminary for Kevin to begin working on a music ministry degree. One of the first people we met was Joe.  Joe was a big guy and he was building bookshelves in his front yard the day we moved in. In fact, we bought a bookshelf from him that we call "Joe's Bookshelf" to this day. Designed to be the largest standing bookshelf possible that could both go through the front door of our duplexes and be maneuvered into an upright position, dozens of "Joe's Bookshelves" were to be found throughout the neighborhood. Twenty years later, it's still the largest and sturdiest bookshelf in our home. Joe (who did not look like any Pastor I had ever met) was the Pastor of a church serving the homeless in downtown Ft. Worth, Texas––and the ministry he worked with was called Beautiful Feet Ministries. 

Laugh at me if you want, but not knowing the Romans passage above, or the Isaiah 52 passage containing these words––I had a vague impression of Jesus washing the (beautiful?) feet of the disciples and encouraging his disciples, likewise, to serve others. It's funny now, but I clearly remember puzzling a few seconds over the name of the ministry and I wondered what a church for the homeless would be like. For some reason I still have a mental image of Joe and his wife serving hot dogs under a bridge somewhere. Obviously, I had a lot to learn about the Bible...and about non-traditional ministries and churches.

In more recent years, this passage (fortunately now familiar to me) has been sweet in my mind as I daily pray for dear friends of ours who are serving as missionaries in a place so closed to the preaching of the Good News that I hesitate to mention even the initials of their names–and certainly, I can't mention the remote town in the country where they are serving–because I am afraid that to do so might endanger their lives and the lives of their small children. The path they are walking while following the Lord Jesus and sharing His good news in this dark land is hard. Daily... it is hard.

Their dusty, bruised, and weary feet are indeed beautiful.

This passage from Romans is the memory verse that our church is working on this week, and inspired by a new resolve to memorize scripture as a family (as well as a new, super-amazing USB microphone that works with Garage Band on his iPad to create and record truly amazing music right here in our living room...ahem...) my husband has put the memory verse to song for the second week in a row. And, since I now have the ability to easily and quickly post the song on this blog, I will.

Because this song is another new favorite.

You can Listen Here.

Kevin had our friends in mind when he wrote this song.  You'll hear our love for them in the chorus about the beautiful feet.

                                          ~Sara~

For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." 

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? 

And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? 

And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 

And how are they to preach unless they are sent? 

As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

                                   ~Romans 10:13-15~

How beautiful upon the mountains

     are the feet of him who brings good news,

who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,

     who publishes salvation,

          who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

                      ~Isaiah 52:7

Memory Verse Resources: For those who are interested in the memory verse program that our church has designed and uses, information can be found here...Fighter Verse Program. A list of this year's suggested weekly verses can be found on this page on our church's website (our family prints that list, which includes the scripture texts, and we make our own resources out of it). For professionally designed curriculum resources related to the program, go here...  Fighter Verse Resources.  If you are interested in using songs to help you hide the Word of God in your heart, CDs from the Fighter Verse Song project that my husband has been involved in can also be found on that resource page.  The songs (some in the early production stage) can also be found for FREE, posted week by week, at the Fighter Verse Songs blog.