I’ve always had bad feet… when I was a young boy, back in the day, I had to wear tie shoes and even then, I couldn’t wear a pair of shoes until they had been sent out to have “bars and heels” installed. When I was still very young, for a short while, I actually had to sleep in special shoes, connected with a bar to keep my feet in a specific position relative to each other. I know by today’s standards those treatments must sound archaic to our younger generations but that was the way they dealt with foot problems back in the 1950’s.
I had two pairs of shoes. A good pair that I wore to church and a more used pair that I wore as “school” shoes. When they got too beat up, or I outgrew them, my “Sunday school” shoes became my daily shoes and Mom got me a new pair of shoes for church.
We shopped at Shapiro’s shoe store on 95th Street in Beverly and after our purchase was made, my new shoes were sent out for modifications. The outside of each heal had a wedge installed to help turn my feet inward and a kidney shaped “bar” was installed on the bottom of each shoe to help increase my arch. I never ever remember walking out of a store wearing my new shoes…
In Boy Scouts, or summer camp, I had a terrible time walking any distance at all before my feet really began to hurt. Let’s say I wasn’t any good on the hikes for badges either – it was just incredibly painful for me. This continued through my childhood and well into my teenage years.
I never even owned a pair of loafers until Janet and I were married and, even then, I was scared to death that I wouldn’t have enough support. You can tell that this affected me to my core – I still have foot problems to this day.
You might say that I am almost paranoid about getting new shoes. The days of only having two pairs are long gone, but I wouldn’t dare buy a pair of shoes without trying them on first. Over the years, I have come to buy almost all of my shoes out at the Greenbrier. Deanna, a dear friend who manages the shoe store there, knows me about as well as anyone. She knows right away whether a shoe will work for me and what size it should be to accommodate an orthotic or heel lift. Yes… I still have to wear them – but nowadays I can generally get them on the inside as opposed to having every pair modified.
As it customary for me, I end up with some shoes that start to hurt after a while, and others that become favorites for me. Well, we just returned from several days out in West Virginia at the Greenbrier and I came home with several pairs of new shoes.
I was in bad need of new walking shoes and Deanna assured me she had something that would work great for me. Yesterday, for the first real test, I wore the shoes on a walk with Janet and our dog, Hank. We went a little more than a mile and things went rather well. I know that I was hyper sensitive, as I always am, particularly in new shoes, but it felt good.
Oddly, I started thinking about what it would feel like to walk two miles – could I do it? Well, we decided not to try it on my first outing, but it got me thinking through the Bible verse about walking the second mile. Sometimes, I don’t know why I think of these weird things, but this verse wouldn’t leave my mind. And now that I am writing tonight, I am reminded of how much pain I went through in my early years – it was terrible.
Since those early days, it was ultimately discovered that all the remedies that I tried were of no use at all. They just didn’t help. It’s just one of those things that I have learned to deal with for the past 70 years. But I am an optimist – I keep hoping that things will ultimately get better even though they say there’s not much that can be done at this point to help me. But God can do anything!
Jesus, in the book of Matthew, gave us an example of what He wanted us to do – to exhibit acts of kindness far beyond the expectation. The idea is that we really don’t know what someone is going through until we “walk a mile in their shoes.” This really hit home with me yesterday. The first mile is usually tough – but the second mile is even worse.
In large measure, this is the kind of ministry that my friends and I have committed to. We walk beside people who need someone to go the extra mile with them. It’s not always easy but it’s the path we have chosen. Job loss, financial issues, divorce, elder care – you name it, we have dealt with it.
Tonight’s verse, a very short and simple one, highlights the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:41, “If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.” My encouragement this evening is that kindness, and walking alongside someone, give us a better idea of what people are going through. And many times, it’s not the first mile, but the second mile, that is incredibly difficult and painful. It tests our resolve to stay the course…
My prayer is that we will all exhibit more tolerance and kindness as we grow in our faith and mirror the actions of Jesus in our daily lives. After all, we don’t know how far someone needs us to walk with them. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…