Shoe Shopping and the Bloody Toe.

Last Thursday April 16th I had the interesting experience of going an entire day without wearing shoes.

Going to a Christian college, there seems to be a new effort (by giving or experience) every week that is designed to help people who “have” understand just a little bit what it is like to “have not.”  I am naturally pretty skeptical when it comes to the thousands of booths set up throughout the year in our student center.

Things go through my head like, “I don’t have time.” “I am a student and work at a church.” “I have got to get my paper done.”

Sometimes I even think, “Oh, look another thing to make people look super-spiritual.”

So a couple weeks ago, I heard about another opportunity that was available and it was not just from Indiana Wesleyan but all of the country.

Tom’s Shoes is a company that brilliantly mixes business with philanthropy.  For every pair of shoes that the company sells, they also give a pair of shoes to a child from a Third World country—-a brand new pair of shoes for someone who doesn’t even understand the concept.  Tom’s Shoes was organizing a country wide  “Day Without Shoes” where people who had shoes would go without shoes to identify with what its like for thousands and thousands of children everyday.

Some startling facts about the Third World and lack of shoes:

Fact #1:
In some developing nations, children must walk for miles to food, clean water and to seek medical help.

Fact #2:
Cuts and sores on feet can lead to serious infection.

Fact #3:
Often, children cannot attend school barefoot.

Fact #4:
In Ethiopia, approximately one million people are suffering from Podoconiosis, a debilitating and disfiguring disease caused by walking barefoot in volcanic soil.

Fact #5:
Podoconiosis is 100% preventable by wearing shoes.

My skepticism immediately took over and I started to think about what the real problem behind this issue was.  How could this day without shoes truly change anything? What was I doing and why should I do it?  It could have only been the Holy Spirit because nothing else could ever shake my foundation and my skepticism.  I decided to participate in the “Day without Shoes” and I am so glad that I did.

I got up for my 7:50 class and had to walk across campus to my first class.  It was cold, really cold.  It was wet.  I tripped on a small rock and cut my toenail.  It hurt, a lot.
So here I am walking a five-minute walk across my small campus to a building that had central heating and carpet….complaining and moaning and groaning.

Then in the midst of my lament, it hit me.  This is everyday for so many people—-so many people and they don’t just walk 5 minutes to a heated building.

This is when this silly day of doing a “Christian” thing became a sacrament of experiencing God’s grace.

Every step I took the rest of the day was a painful and beautiful experience of identifying with the hurting.  I don’t think I have ever prayed as much as I did that day—for people who experience no shoes in much worse terrain than concrete–every day.

Instead of a simple, forgetful lament, my prayers ended up flowing in to love and action.

It is simply just not acceptable that so many people go without something simple like shoes when I have 2 pairs that I don’t even wear.  Its just not okay.  I am so ridiculously blessed and 1. I don’t recognize it enough 2. I waste so much. 3. Giving shoes to people who need them literally changed and sustain lives. SHOES–sustain lives.

So what did the day accomplish?

Although the day itself did not raise money or directly help kids get shoes, it raised so much awareness about the issues of the Third World and lack of shoes.  Through Twitter and Facebook so much awareness and information was dispersed about the issues.  There were a few women from our Church who after reading some of the information we put out on Facebook contacted us and wanted to give us boxes of kid’s shoes so that we could take them to Haiti when we leave in June.

It got people talking and raised a lot of awareness.  People need to know and be reminded that WE ARE SO BLESSED. AND THE ONLY REASON WE ARE BLESSED IS TO BE A BLESSING TO THE WORLD.

So if you have extra shoes, let me know and we will make something happen, because some things are just not acceptable.

www.tomsshoes.com

Joel@oakbrookchurch.com