Today is barefoot day at UMHB. Ok, so we didn't call it that, its called "Soul to Soul"... its a day to remember Haiti and the orphans that live there. We are donating money so that they can have shoes. As of lunch we already had attatined that goal and were moving on the paying for food. So exciting! But, can I just say that days like today are really hard for me? Seriously, I can't relate.
As some of you well know, I haven't been allowed to do missions out of the country. Its a long story, one I will not bore you with. However, I feel like my world view is skewed... off kilter. I have seen the world through my friends eyes.. but never through my own. Some of you will say that is my fault, some of you won't. That is really irrelevant at this point. As I have walked around today, I have padded quietly through the quad (softest grass ever), been shooed out of the sub, and giggled in class at our dirty feet. But I have also cut myself on a sharp rock or two... A friend reminded me that this is a day to feel lucky for what we have and I do. I guess what I'm trying to say is I forgot to remember. Until I sliced my foot open. Barefoot is not all fun and games.
My life has been much like this day. I have walked around in my middle class life, white bread suburbia without remembering how lucky I am. I have a house, food, family, an education, health care... the list goes on and on. Most of my friends have already experienced the slicing open of their foot... They have seen poverty and devastation and pain. I haven't seen it yet; at least not to the degree in which they have described it. Today God taught me about gratefulness. My life has not been perfect by any means, but it has been good. I may not have seen Haiti yet, but today I learned a lesson from those tiny orphans... God is good and I am grateful.
If you are reading this pray for Haiti, and the orphans that live there. Pray that they see God in the shoes that go there. Pray that we can be Jesus to them, even if for now it is just from Belton.
