You’ve heard that saying right? Take a walk in someone else’s shoes.
We do a variety of ministries on the World Race – we’ve painted, helped with construction on churches, worked with youth groups, worked with outreach children’s programs, walked door to door sharing about Jesus, played with orphans, worked with college students, sang, shared testimonies, and preached at church services. We’ve taken water to families living in garbage dumps, we’ve helped pass out food to families, and we’ve helped tutor children, taught English, taught soccer, done prayer ministry, and many other things.
Our ministries vary, but what doesn’t is the chance to take a walk in someone else’s shoes, to see what life is like for people in other places, and to share (if even for a moment) in their life and their story.
This week we worked at a farm that is a part of the ministry we are working with. When the Bible College students move in they will work at the farm a couple of times a week to not only learn biblical knowledge but also practical knowledge that they can take back to their villages. We met three of the men that worked at the farm on a daily basis. We had the privilege to work alongside them. One of the men is a pastor, works at the farm, and goes to school in the evening. As he showed us pictures of his wife and children I thought about the life this man lives and how he is content. It made hoeing around citrus trees and picking up palm branches worth it. It was taking a little walk in his shoes.
On Friday we went into the bush to help another man who worked at the farm. During the cyclone that came through, the roof on his families’ reed house blew off. Since the storm his family has been living in another small hut that is mostly used for cooking. He has spent about 7 years building a house out of bricks, but this house does not have a roof, so we went to help put a roof on at least one room so that his family could use this space. Rikki and I were privileged to be able to help his wife make lunch. She was very patient with my lack of cooking skills. We sat in their hut, cutting chicken, peeling garlic, cutting onions and tomatoes as she cooked it over the fire on the floor of the cooking hut, putting the pots on bricks sitting on the wood. We experienced a little glimpse of what it was like to walk in her shoes.
The Lord has blessed us through meeting these men and woman and he has opened our eyes to the daily life of some of the men and women of Mozambique. I pray that as the Race continues the Lord will give us more opportunities to walk alongside men and women and experience what it is like to take a walk in their shoes.
