"fast" shoes

Today I'm fasting... sort of. It's not a typical fast, i.e. going without food. Instead, I'm going without shoes for the day.

I'm participating in the "one day without shoes" campaign sponsored by a small internet shoe company called Toms Shoes. Part of the mission of Toms is that for every pair of shoes they sell, they give a pair away to children in need. To date, they have given 140,000 pairs of shoes.

Also, last month our youth group took up a collection to give to a local church's mission team in order to buy shoes for girls in a Guatemalan orphanage.

Shoes can make a big difference. Consider:

In most developing nations, people go barefoot (possibly as much at 4 out of the 6 billion people on our planet).

Walking is often the primary mode of transportation in developing countries. Children can walk for miles to food, clean water and to seek medical help.

Wearing shoes prevents feet from getting cuts and sores on unsafe roads and from contaminated soil. Not only are these injuries painful, they also are dangerous when wounds become infected. The leading cause of disease in developing countries is soil-transmitted parasites which penetrate the skin through open sores. Wearing shoes can prevent this and the risk of amputation.

Many times children can't attend school barefoot because shoes are a required part of their uniform. If they don't have shoes, they don't go to school. If they don't receive an education, they don't have the opportunity to realize their potential.

In Ethiopia, approximately one million people are suffering from Podoconiosis, a debilitating and disfiguring disease caused by walking barefoot on volcanic soil.

Podoconiosis is 100% preventable by wearing shoes.

There are children here in our own state who have to go without shoes, too.

So today I'm fasting from shoes. In many ways it's like "regular fasting." It is an intentional effort to change my focus... to become less selfish and thoughtless of others, to becoming more focused on God and the suffering of his children. Also it provides me with a constant reminder (through its discomfort or the public awkwardness) of what I am doing and, more importantly, why I am doing it. It's a call to pray and ask for God's intervention. Like the hunger produced from normal fasting, going shoeless also gives me an opportunity to feel what others feel, to more fully understand another person's plight. And in my life that is often far too flippant about things, fasting shows that there are some things that are worth taking seriously.

Unlike typical fasting, I am doing this publicly (c.f. Matthew 6:16-18 where we are told to keep our fasting private). I am hoping that by going barefoot today I will help raise awareness of the need for generosity and aid for those without shoes. In addition to this blog, facebook, and twitter, I have fliers to give people I see today. I want people to know that I am standing in solidarity with my fellow human beings, shoulder to shoulder, trying to give them a voice. I am urging us to have greater compassion for the shoeless children of our world.

You know, yesterday there were many demonstrations about the fair tax, and I admit my ignorance about the whole issue. I have no idea if it's good or not. But it seems there's a big difference between what they did yesterday and what those of use who are going shoeless today are doing. Yesterday they demonstrated on their own behalf, hoping to get what they feel is in their own best interests... standing up for their supposed "rights." Today, I don't stand up for myself or my own rights (I'm already too spoiled); instead, I am standing up for someone else.

I want to encourage you to get involved. Go barefoot! Find ways to support shoe delivery efforts around the world. Give generously. Have compassion--walk a mile in their shoes (?).