A pair of shoes…
As I sat in a home in the slums with some other teammates and spoke to three women, I said to the one, 20 years old named Elizabeth…
“I really like you sandals, those are cute”.
She said “do you want to try them on?”
I said “sure, do you want to try mine on?”
We exchanged shoes and I said…
“wow I really like them they fit me perfectly, we must be the same size!”
As I handed the shoe back to her…
she said, “you can have them if you like them”.
I said “oh no its ok, I don’t want to trade shoes”.
Thinking to myself that makes sense she probably would rather have the chacos because they are more durable but I need those for the rest of the world race because they are my durable shoes and I NEED them.
She responded saying, “oh no not trade shoes, you can have mine if you like them”
I said, “wow I cant believe it thank you so very much for SUCH a kind offer!”
With a big smile on her face she said, “it is nothing.”
I did not take her shoes but the memory will always be with me. Here is a young girl living in the slums in a one room “house” with other adults, children, and then her own two children, one being only 2 months old and and SHE is offering me HER shoes. I was completely floored with tears in my eyes.
I walked that 30 minutes home thinking to myself am I really the missionary in this place? I wonder if someone tried on my shoes and they fit them perfectly and they liked them, would I be so quick to say if you like them you can have them, they are yours? Would I need to think that one over and weight it out…hmm how much do I really like these? How much did these cost me?
Where does my security lie? Where does my comfort come from? Seeing the ease at which she would hand over her shoes to a complete stranger I saw the most beautiful picture of a young women who truly loved the Lord and found her security and wealth completely in Him. She was not wrapped up in material things like I am.
Sometimes I wonder at the end of this life, when I am in Heaven with that sweet girl if I will be looking back still thinking I had it so much better then her on earth. Because sometimes in ‘Watchyoupita’ I wonder to myself, am I the one who is missing it?
Do these people get it? Do these people get what it means to trust in God fully for EVERYTHING and RELY on him completely for food, water, shelter, and healing because they do not have money for a doctor? Although they live in such poverty in my eyes and compared to everything in America it looks like they have absolutely nothing….but take away all the superficial things this life offers us and when I look at what is truly important, what really matters, I see a richness in these people I have not known before…
who is the one who doesn’t fully get it, who doesn’t completely understand living a life fully entrusted in God, who doesn’t pray about everything, who doesn’t know what it means to truly find ALL of your security in Christ…
The girl is me.
The girl who doesn’t know what it means to truly give of yourself and possessions to others, to fully be the hands and feet of Christ, to live in the fullness of Christ…
The girl is me.
And as I left her very tiny house made of tin hammered out I could only ask myself one thing, are you the one who is missing it?
Yes, the girl is me
Yes there are many that do not know Christ here but for the ones that do, the peace they have is almost unexplainable. The joy they have shines as bright as the sun and when they hug you it feels like the most true love you have ever felt. Because in the midst of living with close to nothing more then they need to get by, they have found something this world longs for everyday and it literally pours out from their spirit…
….a richness in the Truth.
This story comes from one pair of shoes, but it is so much more then that. I am about to walk out the next 11 months in search of the richness of the Truth that the amazing people here in the slums understand. I pray that on this journey I too find the fullness and richness that comes from Christ alone. This is my prayer for you too. I pray that your hearts are touched my this young girl, Elizabeth, running after Christ with a peace that reigns in her life because of the richness she has found in Jesus Christ.
Ask yourself today: Where is my richness found?
“…do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where, and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven …for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also…” Matthew 6:19-21
TRENCH VIDEO!!! One of the things we are doing here!!
