Saturday evening while returning home from a day with relatives I stopped by the local Walmart (okay, I needed to use the bathroom!) and browsed the store for a bit of exercise after a long drive. I went over to the shoe department and discovered to my amazement that they had a clearance section hidden away on one aisle. There were tennis shoes for $5.00, $3.00 and $1.00. What!? I looked around to see if anyone was looking and playing a prank on unsuspecting shoppers. I don't want to find myself on a national TV show with that look on my face. You know the look. It's the one where you are so excited and wary at the same time. The one where you have disbelief showing over your whole body and not just your face. Yeah, you know. You've been there as well. I gazed over the choices of shoes (there weren't a lot) and to my amazement there they were...a pair of gray and white tennis shoes in my size for $1.00. In fact, there were 3 pairs available. The shoes even had a tag that showed the marked down price. I put the pair in my cart and decided that just to be sure I would take a picture with my phone of the sales ticket on the pair of shoes hanging in the same area. We have all arrived at the sales check out to be told that the item was mis-marked or not on sale in the first place. Armed with the shoes and a pack of gum I approached the check out counter and the guy looked at the price, looked at me and with "that look" said, "That's quite the deal." The intimation was that somehow I had changed the price, the price was wrong, or that something had to be wrong. He scanned the tennis shoes just as I was pulling out my phone to show him the picture. He said that wouldn't be necessary as the item had rung up for $1.00. The gum was full price.
I don't get to have deals like that every day. Nor, do I guess, do you. It's not the rule that the consumer wins. My mind got to thinking (something very dangerous to do) about this pair of shoes. Then it hit me! There were many pairs of shoes for $1.00, $3.00 and $5.00 on that rack. For a really low investment I could have bought all of the shoes and still not been broke. What would I do with really cheap new shoes? WELL, in our city we have a large homeless population downtown near our church. Previously I have given away clothing and other items that they could use. Why not shoes?! It's incredible! God brought me to a store where he showed me that virtually anyone could make a purchase to help someone in need and it didn't have to break the bank or feel like I was cheating my church out of my tithe. What would happen if everyone did likewise? I know it seems like such a small thing to buy $1.00 shoes (new) and give them away; but it's doing something. Doing "something" is always better than standing by (or sitting) and doing nothing. I'll be returning to several Walmart's in the future to purchase cheap new shoes for those in need. It's something I can do.
That's part of the Christian dilemma; doing what we CAN do. What exactly can we do. Well, when I have coffee I can pray and dream and visualize how I can bless others. Maybe even share a scone with others. When I take my walks or am browsing in the local book store I can smile and say "Hi." to people. When I am on the freeway I can slow down to actually let someone into traffic AHEAD of me. Well, maybe that's taking things to far. You see, the mindset of many is that we are not able to do anything because "anything" is always bigger than we can imagine, can afford, or can do. That's simply not true. Sometimes the greatest tithe to give God is to listen to someone who needs to vent. Sometimes the greatest tithe is to be there for the small things like serving at a homeless shelter. Maybe the task before us is to pick up that garbage in the parking lot and not think of it as someone else's job. Perhaps we could put our money where our mouths are and buy a meal for someone without a meal AND eat a meal with them not caring who may be watching. It's not what we cannot do but what we can do that makes the difference. After all, we all spend money on stuff that we don't really need. Come on, it's only $1.00!
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