new devotionals

I signed up yesterday for at this website that called teen daily devotional ministry and i guess from today forward, each day they are going to send me a devo. I realize that each day i'll probably find something that i want to post here. but i thought this was somehow pretty mind-blowing:

Some Ugly Black Thing
I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. John 1:26, 27 After I arrived home from Africa it took me several weeks to get adjusted back to life in the US. My time in Africa had been eye-opening and God had used it amazingly in the lives of the students who went with me. A few weeks after I was home I noticed that there was a black “thing” next to the toenail on one of my big toes. That’s kind of weird. I looked at it for a while and even asked others to check it out. I knew what I wanted to do. And I tried hard not to. But after a few days I gave in and did what every red-blooded American guy does when faced with just such an occasion – I squeezed it! Stuff that would be impossible to describe in color and volume came flowing from my foot. It oozed and oozed and the more I squeezed, the more it came out – it was awesome! After the squeezing, which did not hurt by the way, I put a band aid over it and left it alone, for a while. But the black kept coming back. Finally, I did the ultimate, I got out a knife and played surgeon. I dug until it hurt and the black stuff went away. Later I found out it was a sand worm found in the dust in Africa. Let’s face it, feet are dirty appendages which God never really tried to make very attractive. Imaging being the servant in a home 2,000 years ago and being given the lowest of all jobs – foot cleaner. The roads were dusty and feet got dirty, so someone had to clean them. Yucko! Only the lowest slave on the ‘ole slave corporate ladder would get the job. And yet John says that he is not worthy to untie the sandals of our Lord. In other words, if given the opportunity to be the foot cleaner for Jesus – he’s not worthy! The humility and honest reverence for our God and King are amazing in his statement. How about you or me? Would we consider ourselves worthy to be the lowest servant in Christ’s house? Oh, but we’re so much more, we’re children of the King. Praise God for raising us to a place we don’t deserve. And praise God for putting dirty feet as far from the nose as possible.