Shoes and the Gospel?

Tuesday was Toms One Day Without Shoes. I was happy to hear this was going on again as I missed last year's event. But why was I happy?

This day meant something different to everyone who participated. I wasn't sure what my purpose was for participating until late at night on Tuesday as I lie in bed thinking about my day.

One thing about yesterday that was really encouraging was that my work encouraged everyone here to participate. It made sense, we work with kids in poverty. Toms gives shoes to kids in poverty who don't have shoes. Toms partners with Compassion to provide shoes to some of the kids in projects we support. It's a beautiful circle of love and care!

Walking around at work and overhearing people's conversations is where I realized not everyone was on the same page with the reason for participating. Well, not on my page.

"Oh, are you kidding me? I'm not walking into the bathroom with out shoes." I heard this many times. I understand, it's not the most ideal place to be bear foot. But don't millions of kids have to walk bear foot through nastier places than this?

I think days like this can be more damaging to me than helpful. Here I am, these judgmental thoughts going through my head and these people I'm comparing myself to are just trying to do something simple to make a difference.

Why do I have the underlying desire to be hipster? Does it go back to high school when I was? Aren't I old enough to not care anymore? Is this just a personality thing? It's probably a bit of all of that, but whatever it is - it's wrong.

I could get all cynical and say the underlying point of the day was for Toms to sell more shoes. But that's good too, because they are a business and they are there to make money. The more money and shoes they make, the more they can give away. While that may be a reason, I believe that was not the main purpose.


Kids have to go without shoes. This is a big deal. We wear shoes, it's normal. We don't wear shoes, people notice, people ask what the deal is. I know I was asked a few times at school yesterday. It's a way to bring awareness by inviting conversation. We are not going out and having PSAs on TV and radio talking about the hazards of not wearing shoes in developing countries. We just don't wear shoes here and people ask.


I went to Twitter yesterday to check some trending topics and about 1/2 of the tweets I saw were asking why #withoutshoes was trending. That is great. Dialog. Awareness. Action.


So did it matter that hundreds of people at Compassion didn't wear shoes? Not really - we were all mostly aware of the plight of children in poverty. We have carpet and just sit at desks all day. Am I judging again? People didn't ask me at work why I didn't have shoes. Did it matter that I didn't wear shoes to school yesterday? Yes. That was where I was asked what was going on. That is where I was able to share the purpose of this cause.


Wait a second. What did I just realize? Being surrounded all day by people who share the same beliefs as you is not a good thing? Aren't we called as Christians to go into the world and make disciples? How do I do that if I am only surrounded by other Christians? I think I just realized I am living in a stupid "Christian bubble" that I always have despised. I am that guy. Oh, good grief - I have some serious