A hole in my shoe Sermon 7-27-08

     There are Miracles that God has given to help me in my times of need. Sometimes it was healing. Sometimes it was a job or resources to survive. I have found great comfort in the knowledge that God is protecting me. Sometimes that protection is even from things I brought on myself from my actions. This is the story of one of those small Miracles that meant so much to me. Sometimes the things you take for granted are the very things that once taken away are valued most when they are given back.

     The Miracle I will tell you about was an answered Prayer. It was a small thing but gave me strength and hope that things would get better in time. What I received was just a foretaste of the improvements to come.

     I have been homeless 3 times in my life. The first time was in Houston, Texas. It started out very unexpectedly. The timing of this happened to be the coldest winter in a decade. I was totally unprepared when it happened.

     The apartment that I lived in building was in Montrose. It was a nice comfortable old building. It had originally been a large home that had been divided to make the apartments. I lived there with my Best Friend Steve. He had taken me in after I got back from pursuing a Love interest around the USA.

     The rent was reasonable. I shared half of the bills including rent with Steve.  We had just paid rent. It was one week into the month that we had already paid the rent. The landlord locked everyone out without any notice. We could not find anyone to answer our questions.

     The building had just changed ownership and we did not know where or who they were. I was very upset but tried to count my blessings. I was health, young, and had a few dollars in the bank. We of course never saw the month rent or prepaid deposit ever again.  What I had in the bank was not enough for a new apartment’s deposit let a lone first month's rent. I did not have a job, but I was looking. I did not drink, do drugs, or have any psychological problems.

     The first miracle was I found a van that did not run a few blocks from my old apartment. The owner only wanted two hundred dollars for it. I got behind the van with Steve steering and pushed it to a location close by. It was a street where there were many other vehicles that did not move often. When the Landlord locked us out he put some of our belongings in boxes outside the door. He did not seem to think my stereo, record and book collections and other personal belongings worthy of putting outside the apartment.

     With the clothes that had been cleared from my apartment I set up living quarters in the van. Because the van locked I did not need to carry my stuff with me to interviews for jobs. This was a very good thing. Any interviewer that saw me caring everything would never have given me the time of day, let alone the chance to interview to get a job. There were other problems that I had not realized would come up.

     I soon found that without an address and phone number, applications were not leading to an interview. I found a friend who was willing to be the address and phone. I got a job at a restaurant working the dish machine. I washed up in the bathroom before my shift. I got a free meal from the restaurant on the days that I worked. On my days off I cooked in a coffee can in my van. I could not buy much fresh food because I had to eat it all in one sitting. One of my favorites was already roasted chicken from a nearby grocery store.

     I walked a long way to interviews and store. My shoes were getting thin in the sole from all the traveling around by foot. When the Winter really set in it started to rain everyday. Finally one of my shoes split in the sole letting the water in. The water found a way in no matter how I stepped around all the puddles. I had to work with wet feet sometimes if I had no dry socks left. It was very uncomfortable.

     The second miracle eased this for me. I prayed that I could get a new shoe to replace the split one. Just one shoe was what I prayed for and wanted. No one ever looked at my feet. The next morning on the way to work I found a matching pair of tennis shoes on the curb. They were almost new. They were placed like you would set shoes out for a getting dressed in the morning right there on the curb. The shoes were not my size but a little bigger than would snuggly fit me. I changed my shoes right there at the curb. My feet were finally warm and dry again. There is nothing as miserable as having uncomfortable feet. I was so Grateful to God for helping me with this Gift.

     When I went to sleep that night I had a dream that felt like a great big hug. God told me in the dream that the shoes were a little big so I could wear two pair of socks, to keep warm. I cried tears of joy that God so greatly cared for me. 

     To this day I value a good pair of shoes like I never did before. The next time you look in your closet count the pairs of shoes. You will probably find a huge variety of them. You will probably have a pair for every occasion. You might have a few pairs of each kind. Ask yourself how often you wear each pair. Ask yourself if you have lost interest in some of them; which might be the case if you did not even remember having them. When you find such a pair shoes that are not in tatters I want you to consider something.

     There may be someone like me that would be overjoyed to have a pair of shoes that does not leak. There are two things that you might do. You can find a local thrift shop that helps the Homeless and donate the shoes. Or you could keep the shoes in a bag in your vehicle. The vehicle you are not forced to live in to protect yourself. Look for God’s signs. You might just be putting them on the curb. Or maybe you will be handing them to someone that God shows you saying “This is the one who needs them.”