The Retirement of NB803

I'll agree that my obsession with NB803 is strange. I'll admit that in the recesses of logic to attach any profound meaning to a pair of shoes seems to be a stretch. Yet NB803 has been the sole (no pun intended) focus of two blogs and now a third.

Believe it or not (and considering my obsession I'm going to guess you will choose to believe it) I remember the day I purchased NB803. I was training to hike Pikes Peak in 2001 and needed better footwear to carry me up the mountain. I broke them in hiking the no oxygen zone and then tested their endurance by hiking up the mountain on August day in 2001. We fell in love with each other. Something shifted in me when I had those shoes on. Courage I did not know I had seemed to flow from my feet when they were encased by NB803.

I'm a visual person, I easily attach meaning to moments, to possessions, to people. I lean on a visual to help remind me of God's truths. So it was natural to look at NB803 when desperately seeking a visual of courage as I prepared to go to Kenya in 2007 (click here to read that NB803 story).

There are seasons, if I have learned nothing else in my life I have learned that. And a couple of weeks ago I realized that the season of NB803 had come to an end. They have served me well. They have acted as God's visual reminder to me, they have reminded me over and over again of his truth in Habakkuk 3:19 (Amplified), "The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds' feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]!" They have walked me through many valleys and up many mountains. But the time has come.

God has moved me on to a new season and I must leave NB803 behind with the past. "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." (Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV) I will retire them with a heart of gratitude for their service to me and then fix my heart forward and take a step into the new season God has for me.

Thanks NB803 for serving as a conduit of God and WELCOME NB540 ~ Get ready to run!