Apr 16, 2010 | South Africa, The Good Word
I don’t know how I managed to catch this little fella with anything other than a smile on that sweet little face.
He was happily playing in the dirt the first time I noticed him.
His joy was contagious.
Sometimes seeing people who have so little and are so happy
challenges me to the core.
When he was giggling and smiling and tracing circles in the dirt, he had bare feet.
I’m glad he was blessed with a pair of shoes yesterday.
And glad he knows how to be happy either way.
“But Jesus said,
Let the children come to me, and don’t try to stop them.
It’s to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”
xCC
Apr 15, 2010 | South Africa, Stories
Guys and gals! I mean it! I have three gabillion stories to tell you. We had our first shoe distribution today in a township not too far from the Muizenberg section of Cape Town called Overcome Heights. It’s a very poor area where some 6,000 people just showed up and built a settlement in three days because just before elections the government made some sort of promises that would have affected people living in that area. I don’t think they made good on those promises, but anyway, that’s not the story, I’m just wiped from a long day, so I’m rambling.
But one real story is, a bunch of kids were blessed today, with a message of hope, with people who care about them praying for them and washing their feet, and with a new pair of Crocs.
Crocs?
Yes, Crocs. Not the fake imitation ones either. Sorry, was that redundant? Crocs committed 1 million pairs of shoes to Samaritan’s Feet over a four year period, and 1,000 of those Crocs are here in Gordon’s Bay for us to bless people with. Ahem, with which we can bless people. I didn’t want to end that sentence with a preposition, but y’all I’m tired. My southern is coming ow-wt! Dern!
You have probably guessed that because I’m so tired, I’m not going to try to tell you all three gabillion stories right now.
But here’s one.
I saw this little boy today waiting in line just outside the area where the kids enter and hear a message of hope.
I was really sad at first because I saw that he had bare feet, and I didn’t think he had gotten in line in time. There were so so many little feet. Little little bare feet! There are always more feet than there are shoes. But I wanted this little one to get a pair of shoes!
Much to my delight, I realized he had a little strand of bright blue raffia around his wrist. The blue raffia was the magic solution when we’d forgotten yarn and we needed a way to count how many kids would be getting shoes. We’d tie a bit on their wrists and then remove it after they’d received their shoes so they couldn’t come back through.
So I rejoiced when I saw that he was going to get a pair of shoes today. Yay!
And then, I happened to catch him again later…Here he comes to have his tootsies tickled and receive a new pair of shoes!
In the end, we were running low on small sizes, and he got a pair that was a little big for him. See below? We passed them along to his mother and he’ll probably be sporting them tomorrow anyway.
It is tough to know what a drop in the bucket those shoes were. It’s estimated that 300 million people around the world go shoeless every day.
If you have time, please take a second to give that number a second thought.
You back? Okay good.
Mother Theresa once said, “If you can’t feed a hundred, feed one.” Today, among the many, there was this one.
And this one.
And this one.
And on behalf of “these ones,” I want to say thank you, Crocs South Africa, and thank you to those of you who have supported our ministry or Samaritan’s Feet. From the bottom of my heart, and from the bottom of many feet, many, many thanks.
xCC
Apr 9, 2010 | Baby Photos, Stories
The Bear tried on Dad’s slippers the other day. It was of course adorable enough for a picture or eight. We’re first time parents… Everything is adorable enough for eight pictures and some video footage!
I was thinking about how likely he was to fall over if he decided to try to walk, but he just kind of stood there, marvelled in the difference in size, smiled and climbed out before he kept on trucking.
I realized as I thought about it afterwards, sometimes I put on the wrong size shoes.
I’m not one of those ladies who’s a size 6, but 7 feels so good I wear 8. But, based on my comparisons with how other people are living, what they are capable of, what they do, maybe even how they dress or how they look, I begin to want to walk in different shoes — ones that aren’t the right size for me. Do you know what I mean?
It was obvious that the Bear would fall over if he tried to keep trucking in Dad’s slippers. He would’ve been hindered with every step, and it could have even been dangerous for him — his clumsy efforts might’ve landed his front teeth on the corner of the coffee table so that he could have his own fat lip!
When we try to wear other people’s shoes, instead of finding the ones that are right for the feet that God calls each of us to walk in, we are bound to struggle, perhaps even to try to do too much, to the peril of our health and sometimes our ability to hold ourselves together.
Finding the easy yoke, the light burden, the green pastures, the still waters… the right pair of shoes come from following the Lord. Ask Him what your feet should be doing today, and let Him show you what shoes should be on your feet.
We’ll let the Bear stick with these for now…
“Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. ‘Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
xCC
Apr 6, 2010 | Stories, Travel..ling Tuesdays
For months and months now, Travelling Tuesdays have brought you the beauty of South Africa. Well a small slice of the beauty anyway. I really hoped you’d get a different perspective on Africa. There’s more than one story to tell. More than one picture I hope will resonate in your mind. There is indeed devastating poverty. There’s also great beauty. And I’ve been hoping to share both.
I unwrapped an unexpected gift this Easter Sunday, that I thought you might enjoy seeing and hearing about this TT. I didn’t wear a dress. The Bear didn’t munch any peeps. And we didn’t have a spiral sliced honey-glazed ham. Sigh. But we did enjoy something really special this Easter. We visited a church in one of the townships nearby, and I measured up the feet of some kids who will be receiving new shoes in less than two weeks.
We are really excited about our first distribution taking place this month. About finally getting to do some of what we came here to do, after months of paperwork and fedexes, P.O. Boxes and charity-registering-signatures, and lots of heart-tugging tough moments, we’ll finally be blessing people with a message of hope and a new pair of shoes.
What unexpected gift have I to share this Travelling Tuesday? Don’t worry, first the photos and then I’ll explain!
Before we visited the church where we’ll be hosting a distribution, the pastor gave us a whirlwind of a bumpy tour through some different parts of the township. These are some areas where some of the children who will be receiving shoes live. I suppose it’s a little slice of the Africa you’ve been expecting to see all along. But I hope you’ll let it touch your heart in a fresh way.
Just for perspective’s sake I’ll remind you these shots were taken while riding along in the pastor’s Kombi. (What South Africans call a big 15 passenger van.)
It’s hard to know what to say. I’ll let you come up with your own captions a little.
Coca-Cola is everywhere.
This children’s centre had brightly coloured outdoor potties that I really wish I could’ve gotten a picture of. They were green and yellow polka-dotted. Just close your eyes and imagine!
This church was very holey — not in the religious sense of the word.
Sometimes unexpected colour brings me unexpected joy.
Where did that horse grazing way back there come from?
And this is part of the group of kids who’ll be receiving shoes soon. Shhh! They’re at Sunday school!
(I’m in the corner getting ready to measure some footsies!)
So…in between the stray dogs and barbed wire, the bare feet and the bright colours, I unwrapped an unexpected gift. The gift was a glimpse of the lovely things God is going to do in South Africa through Samaritan’s Feet — lovely things that I get to be a part of. I received the gift when my hands were tickling the bottoms of rough little feet, bearing toes that had been squished into too-small-shoes for too long. I untied the ribbons when the Sunday school teacher told me some of these kids borrow a pair of shoes just to have something to wear to church. I gently pulled back the paper as I came face to face with the scenery I’ve been riding past for months, concerned that my heart might be growing insensitive as these months have worn on. I peeked inside as I lifted these precious children onto a chair, removed and replaced a shoe, and gave and received sweet smiles.
It was a gift to be reminded what all these struggles have been about. What I hope to be a part of doing here. The hope of having a great impact in the lives of even a few children — that’s the hope I’ve been missing for a while. And along with the gift of the Resurrection, a constant remembrance for an Easter Sunday, there was the gift of remembering that Jesus lives in me. What a gift and a privilege to be hands and feet to a world in need.
Was that the Africa you’ve been expecting all these Tuesdays? I hope it still touches a spot in your heart, to make you grateful for what you have, perhaps moved to do something for others who don’t. We can find unexpected gifts all the time, if we’re willing to look.
I hope you’re enjoying the journey of today this Tuesday!
xCC
I shared this post today over at Chatting at the Sky’s Tuesdays Unwrapped. I recommend a venture over to enjoy some more reminders of the giftedness of life!
Apr 5, 2010 | Stories, The Good Word, The Parenthood
This post, and the special picture at the bottom are for my Dad. Thanks for being in my corner!
I was a really puny kid. Almost always the smallest in the class. On picture day, they lined us up according to height, shortest to tallest, and I always went first and held up the little sign with the teacher’s name and the date. Most of the time I liked being little — it made me feel special. But on one particular day, let’s just say it wasn’t to my advantage.
There was a game we used to play on the playground called Four Square. You took turns in one of the four squares, bouncing the ball to a different square and hoping the next person couldn’t return it. You advanced through each square to the first square, the square where you served the ball, and hoped to stay there for as long as possible. The kids who weren’t in one of the four squares usually just stood in a queue/line and waited by the last square for their turn, when someone else “got out.â€
On one particular day, I was about ten years old at the time, one of the other girls in the class let’s call her Janet decided I had skipped her in line, and she was upset with me about it. I most certainly had not skipped Janet, but she was upset anyway. It’s important to remember that I was a pipsqueak and easy to pick on. Janet called another girl over to help “solve†the problem. Let’s call her Mary Sue. Now this is to the best of my rememberance what went down. Mind you I was ten…this isn’t an exact play by play.
Janet: “Mary Sue, come on over here! Caroline skipped me in the line.â€
Mary Sue came over. She was only a little older, but significantly bigger than me. I was a pipsqueak, remember?!
Janet: “Come hold Caroline’s arms down so I can kick her.â€
At this point I am really concerned. I don’t know what to do. I’m about to be backed into a corner by a kid that’s much bigger than me, so that another kid can kick me. And unjustly so! I start to feel hot and nervous and my heart is racing.
Mary Sue comes over and holds my arms to my sides. I am terrified and by now my heart is pounding out of my chest — I don’t want to be kicked!!
And then something happened even I didn’t expect. In the heat of the moment, backed into a corner, threatened to have the mess kicked out of me, my playground survival instincts kicked in. It’s like I can’t even remember it. But when the dust cleared, and the moment had passed, I had not been kicked. Not even once.
Why not, Caroline? How did you get out of it?
When all the chips were down, my arms held to my sides, and my legs too short to deliver a kick, I bit Mary Sue.
And though I can’t remember it, I have a feeling that when the playground survival instinct kicked in, it wasn’t just a little bite. I mean to tell you I bit her.
I only vaguely remember having the chance to tell my side of the story to the teacher. I know my Mom was informed. Mary Sue’s Mom worked at our school, and she decided to take Mary Sue to the doctor for a shot. It was not my favourite elementary school experience, to say the least.
That evening when I was home from school, I was a little worried. My Mom didn’t say much about it, but I was afraid my Dad was going to be mad at me. We hadn’t really talked about it and I didn’t know if we were going to.
We were watching TV after dinner when the phone rang. It was Mary Sue’s Mom. Let’s call her Diane. My Dad answered.
I don’t know exactly what Diane said to my Dad. I guess she told him I should be punished. Maybe she told him we should pay for the shot. Maybe she just wanted to make sure he knew what I’d done and that I had been appropriately disciplined.
I sat and listened, a little fearful of what was going to happen when my Dad put down the phone. But then, I heard some of the most beautiful words I can remember out of my Dad’s mouth when I was a kid. He interrupted Diane and said,
“D*** it, Diane! Your kid is twice the size of my kid! If something like this happens again, I would tell her to do it again!â€
I am pretty sure the conversation ended shortly after that.
That was the sweet and perfect voice of vindication and redemption. It meant the world to me that my Dad understood, and that he had my back. I was embarassed by what had happened. I was afraid he wouldn’t understand, and I was afraid I was going to be punished when I had only been trying to defend myself. And I think something a lot of kids really long for, in a world where they are constantly told what to do, to think and to say, is some kind of justice — for things to be fair.
When I knew my Dad understood what had happened, and when I knew he was on my side, it was such a sweet feeling of vindication. I wasn’t afraid of going back to school the next day. I wasn’t going to be embarassed that I was ten years old and I bit someone. My Dad was in my corner, and in that moment, that was what I really needed to know.
Today I think I sometimes forget about the God who’s in my corner. He is the God who showed up on the playground of this earth, in the name of love, in the name of justice, and with the purpose of redemption. I am sometimes afraid that He is a God who cannot understand what I’m walking through, and is therefore disappointed and upset with me when things don’t happen the way they should. But God came near. He can identify with our struggles. He walked through thirty-some years in a world full of unkind and unfair. Even when we do make mistakes, He understands and He forgives.
And He is in your corner. He wants you to know that even if things don’t go the way they should, He still loves you. You’re still acceptable. You don’t have to be embarassed or ashamed of the things that have happened — by your own hand, your own decisions and actions, or by someone else’s. And even when you are completely in the wrong — utterly, and obviously way off base — He extends forgiveness, mercy, grace. And the pardon for those actions, the hall pass to escape the punishment — paid for in full by Jesus on the cross.
The dignity that there is in our free will — the dignity that we get to be on the playground of life and choose fairness, choose justice, choose love and choose the ways of God — in itself is such a beautiful redemption.
What I’ve learned since that day on the playground is that our real fight in this world is not against flesh and blood, or the other people on the playground. You have a very real enemy that does not want to see you walk in the plans and purposes God created you for. His voice will bring discouragement, doubt, and feelings of defeat your way. But God is in your corner. He understands the battles you’re facing. And He has strength for you, so that no matter what comes your way, you can keep fighting the good fight. You can keep moving forward.
Knowing that you are loveable, redeemable, understood and loved — knowing that God is for you and is not waiting in the wings eager to punish you — really knowing that will change the game for you. It’ll change the rules for you. It’ll rock the playground of your life.
“What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.†Romans 8: 31 – 32, 38-39
We love this little boy so much. And we passionately long to see him walk in the plans he was created for. Do you know — really know — that no matter what you’ve done, the God of the universe feels that way about you?
xCC
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