Walk a Mile in Their Shoes
Empathy is a powerful human emotion, but none of us really knows what it is like to “walk in another person’s shoes.” It becomes even more difficult when we try to imagine what it’s like to travel about with no shoes at all.
Most of us have at least three or four pairs of shoes; some people even have as many as 30 or 40 pairs, but many people around the world, particularly young children, do not have a decent pair of shoes to wear.
We now have an opportunity to do something about that and change lives in the process. Our church is participating in a drive to provide “Shoes for Orphan Souls.” Simply purchase a new pair of children’s shoes and place them in the box in the Narthex. The boxes will be collected this weekend and sent to orphans and vulnerable children around the world. For those outside of our area, buckner.org/shoes to contribute.
Here’s what happens when you donate. First of all, you dramatically improve the health of these children by protecting their feet against disease and infection, and giving them a comfortable way to get around.
Shoes also enhance a child’s educational outlook by eliminating at least one barrier to school attendance. In addition, shoes provide opportunity by connecting families to critical services, programs and mentoring at Buckner Family Hope Centers around the world.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, new shoes provide hope by demonstrating God’s love through your faithfulness and generosity, lifting the spirits of so many young children and helping them take that first step out of poverty.
Jesus was especially tuned in to those who lived in poverty. In Matthew 7:12, he said, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.” That is the essence of empathy.
Not only did Jesus speak about empathy, he lived it, as we read in II Corinthians 8:9, which states, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”
As his disciples, we are rich in the spirit, and that inspires us to reach out to the “least among us,” particularly the children.
And finally there is this from the first five verses of Philippians 2, “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus”.
Our current shoe drive is in no way an obligation, but instead an opportunity. So we invite you to join us, if you will, as we reach out to those in need. Children’s shoes can be purchased economically at a number of locations in our area. The drive ends this week.
Until We Meet Again, Be Blessed! – Pastor John