Beautiful Feet in Pink Shoelaces

"Is that him?" Suzanne asked me as she stared out the passenger's window and we approached a man standing beside the red dirt road.

"Surely not," I commented when I saw his shoes. They were women's snow boots with bright pink laces. Straight from America's finest secondhand shops, I'm sure, only they never sold in America so they made it all the way over here.

Yet there he was, standing on the side of the road exactly where we thought he would be, and he walked towards our car and waved us down. "Yep, that's him, I guess."

Suzanne and I were on our way out to a village where we have met a family in great need. The mother died spontaneously four years ago in the middle of their fields. No one knows what happened or why. She was pregnant with their fifth child. The father, Julian, did his best to take care of the children, but it became increasingly difficult three years ago when he fell suddenly blind and unable to work. Around the same time, one of his sons got an eye infection that they tried to treat with traditional medicine from a witch doctor. Instead of helping, the paste they put in his eye blinded and ruined it entirely. As if Julian's family hadn't been through enough already, last year some shepherds let their animals roam in his crop fields. Blind Julian didn't know about it, so the animals ate and destroyed their crops, leaving them with barely a harvest. Now, their grain has run out, their house is falling apart, and they have practically nothing - not even clean pots to cook in or soap to wash with. 

Until now. 

I love Suzanne's heart because she cannot see a situation like this and leave it that way. 

"The church is the body of Christ," Suzanne said, "and within the body, it is our role to take care of one another." Alfred translated her words into their language so that Julian and his family could understand. 

Alfred is the man we picked up on the side of the road; he is the mason that is going to repair Julian's house. After he got in the car and introduced himself, I told him that I was a new teammate of the Richters. "I know," he said. "I saw you in a certain village once."

The only time I have been to the village he spoke of was for a mid-week prayer service, so I asked him, "Did you see me at the prayer service?" He happily nodded, and I felt instantly better about having a brother instead of a stranger in my back seat. 

When we arrived to Julian's house, Alfred got right to work looking at the house and planning what he was going to do to fix it. He also served unexpectedly as our dagara translator. 

We sat down under the shade of a tree by their house on wooden benches to talk. I only know a few words in dagara, and I heard all of them in what Alfred and Julian had to exchange. "I don't know a whole lot of dagara," I told them, "but I do know three phrases: thank you very much, it's good, and no problem." As I said the words in dagara, they all laughed - probably half because I sounded funny and half because they sincerely find true delight in hearing someone try to relate to them through their language. 

Alfred jumped in. "And you understand the word Namwin, right?" 

"Yes, of course," I replied. "That means God." 

And that's just about how long it took to bring God into the conversation, although he was sitting in our midst all along. 

"Julian wants to thank you so very much," Alfred translated for us. That's when Suzanne took her chance and told him that we are the body of Christ, and it's just what we do. We love because he first loved us. 

I translated into French and Alfred translated into dagara, and then Julian accepted the words with a smile that I could tell came from his heart, and he started a long flow of words in dagara. 

We waited patiently for him to finish and for Alfred to translate back into French for us. "He is continuing the same message," Alfred said. "He knows all good things come from God, and when he looks at you, he sees it is true." 

"We will continue to pray for you to receive your sight," Suzanne said. She is in the process of setting up an appointment with an eye specialist in a nearby city. Julian's eyes may be repaired with a simple cataract surgery. Plus a whole lot of prayer. "And then you will be a testimony and encouragemeant to others," she continued. 

Alfred translated and Julian responded, "When I am able to give testimony, it will be because of you." 

"No," I said, "It will be because of God," to which Julian and Alfred both gave a strong, "Amen!" 

Then we prayed all together with Julian in the middle and all his children around him. We gave them the clothes, shoes, soap, and kitchen materials we had bought for them and then headed back into town. 

"Thank you for coming with us and helping this family," I told Alfred in the back seat. "They are truly in need." 

"It's no problem at all," he replied. "I think that when you follow God, you see that this is how we should live - helping others and sharing the good news." 

I shouldn't have let his pink shoes throw me off. I was so glad that we encountered this man today, a brother in Christ with a needed skill to help those who are in need. How beautiful are the feet that bring the good news.