Praying alongside the meditation of Lectio 365 on 15 July 2026, what struck me was the reading of Romans 10:13-15—in particular, verse 15: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
Prior to that famous line, Paul describes the steps God has taken for the good news to go out to all the world:
14 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? 15 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!”
I looked at my feet and thought to myself, “How are my feet beautiful?” As a “missionary”—one who is sent—be it by role, motivation, or faith, surely I fit into the category of people who are bringing the good news to the world. Yet, how are my feet beautiful?
Anyone getting acquainted with Thai culture would learn from the get-go that the head is sacred and the feet are considered the lowliest and dirtiest part of the body. Especially since we are here to serve the people, Dan and I learnt quickly to keep our feet down and tucked in (sometimes even when our legs go numb from sitting cross-legged on the ground for hours).
In many ways, this is similar to Jewish culture, in the Ancient Near East of Isaiah’s time and the Israel of Jesus’ and Paul’s time. The feet of messengers were especially dirty and ugly, perhaps even bruised and scarred, because of the long distance and rough terrain they had to cross in order to send a message. The irony of the beautiful feet in Isaiah 52:7, which is later taken up by Paul in Romans 10:15, is striking.
Where is the beauty in these feet?
Over the past eight months in Thailand, the honest self-assessment of my being and giving has been anything but beautiful.
I struggle to share anything meaningful with our church members; I stutter over my prayers in Thai so I ask someone else to pray instead; I think about myself more than the people I’m called to on occasion. And I can no longer count the number of times Dan and I have thought of going home and simply living a non-missionary life. Where is the beauty in these feet?
Yes, these feet have been sent and these feet have carried us to Thailand. Yet, these feet have been inclined to stay put when they are called to walk; they have been running when they are called to rest. Where is the beauty in these feet?
I looked at my feet again and it dawned on me that they are what they are—feet. Feet meant to carry us and invariably become dirty, calloused, sore, and even scarred.
Just as I was focusing only on my feet, the Holy Spirit crept in and lifted my gaze from what’s below to that above.
For the messengers recorded in Isaiah 52, their feet are beautiful because of the good news of liberation they will bring to the Israelites. Their days of Babylonian exile will soon be behind them. For Paul, “the feet of those who preach the good news” are all the more beautiful because they carry the gospel of salvation that all may hear and believe.
Feet may not be beautiful in and of themselves, but they are rendered so by the ultimate beauty of the good news—the gospel of salvation and victory. What is dirty and lowly is somehow now transformed and praised as beauty and timely (ὡραῖοι) because of what it carries.
As I look to that which is unseen (2 Cor 4:18), I thank God that the beauty of my feet comes not from my own making or unmaking. The steps my feet find so difficult to take on days when cross-cultural living and working overwhelm me do not erase the beauty of the gospel. And the calluses that form through the friction of navigating and aligning ministry expectations do not define the beauty of the gospel.
In many ways, I am comforted that my feet can simply be feet—feet that are faithful, reliable, and really, human. These feet carry the good news through walking and running, but also standing and sitting, resting and even when needing a massage.
I pray that as my feet continue to be faithful in carrying the beauty of the good news, that they would likewise be formed by the gospel of Jesus Christ, beautiful not merely in outward appearance; beautiful because of the scars they bear.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.
— 2 Cor 4:7-12
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Sidenote: Just to assure our supporters, we are not on the verge of giving up (in fact, far from it)! We just want to be honest and open in sharing the journey we are on. We don’t want to feed into the rhetoric that missionaries are saints (or what Larry Dinkins describes as having a halo over our heads) who have no struggles or are able to overcome anything in a snap.
