Carried, Drug, or Infatuated, Oh My!

Most of you have probably heard the famous poem by Mary Stevenson titled "Footprints in the Sand." She wrote the poem in 1936 to offer comfort to people during the difficult times of the Great Depression. Believe me, many people during this time needed the inspiration and assurance of this poem. Here’s Mary Stevenson’s poem.

“One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky. In each scene, I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one set of footprints. This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow, or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints.

So, I said to the Lord, “You promised me, Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life, there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?" The Lord replied, “The times when you have seen only one set of footprints are when I carried you.”

Recently, I discovered another version of this poem. We might call God’s plan ‘B.’ God uses it when the footprints approach doesn’t work. Plan B is for those of us who learn the hard way. The newer version of the poem is called 'Butt Prints in the Sand.' Now, turn to the person next to you reading this newspaper and say, “Ed is writing an article for you; you should read it.”

“One night, I had a wondrous dream, one set of footprints there was seen. The footprints of my precious Lord, but mine were not along the shore. But then some stranger prints appeared, I asked the Lord, “What have we here? Those prints are large and round and neat, but Lord, they are too big for feet.”

“My child,” He said in somber tones, “for miles I carried you alone. I challenged you to walk in faith, but you refused and made me wait. You disobeyed; you would not grow. The walk of faith you would not know. So, I got tired, I got fed up, and there I dropped you on your butt. Because in life there comes a time when one must fight and one must climb, when one must rise and take a stand or leave their butt prints in the sand.”

Now, there’s a real ‘drug’ problem. Occasionally, God must drag us into what is best for us by dragging us out of the messes we make in life. Marketplace leader Os Hillman says, “Sometimes we want something to succeed so badly that we fail to listen to that little voice inside trying to warn us by guiding us on a different path. There are times when pushing harder by trying to manipulate the circumstances or pressuring those around you is not the right response to a divine roadblock.” Think about it. God might be trying to warn us not to go down that path.

Ask the Bible character Balaam the Prophet. His stubbornness and independence landed him in the school of real-life experience with a donkey as his instructor. The donkey’s lesson about changing directions ended up saving Balaam’s life. Some say the story is fiction, but they should be more concerned with the lesson about the friction of being pulled out of their destructive direction and into God’s constructive direction.

Here's a lesson about someone warning women about who they should marry. Infatuation, fear of losing them, and impulsiveness have been the cause of many butt prints in the sand.

“In the Bible, Ruth patiently waited for her Boaz. While waiting on your Boaz, don't settle for any of his relatives; Broke-az, Poor-az, Lying-az, Cheatin-az, Dumb-az, Downlow-az, Cheap-az, Lockedup-az, Good-for-nothing-az, Lazy-az, Crazy-az, or Married-az, and especially his THIRD cousin Beating-yo-az. PLEASE wait on your BOAZ and make sure he RESPECTS yo-AZ.”

As someone who has had his butt prints in the sand a few times, please take this advice: be teachable, not offended. As my friend and elder at the church I pastored, John Clark used to say, “I ain’t walking down that road!” In other words, footprints in the sand (Plan A), while not pleasant, are more desirable than prints in the sand (Plan B).

So, to you going through tough things and depression times, you will look back at your life and see those times where there was only one set of footprints in the sand. If you rearrange the letters in depression, you’ll get “I pressed on.” For most of you, your current situation is not your final destination.

For those of you going through those butt prints in the sand, stop trying to pray or curse away what God called you to walk through. Instead, pray, “Lord, show me who I need to become as a result of this storm.” Sometimes God has to cut the grass down in your life so that you can see the snakes.

Finally, for those getting impatient waiting for their Ruth or Boaz, remember what  Josh Billings said, “Half the troubles of life can be traced back to saying 'yes' too quickly and 'no' too slowly.”

Ed Delph/August 11, 2025/CCC