Shoes for John
He lives in South Dakota where the summers are short and hot, and the winters are long and cold. Snow piles up to many feet, making travel difficult and dangerous. It is winter, and it is cold.
John lives on an American Indian reservation. He is walking to school. In the middle of this bitter South Dakota winter, John is wearing a thin jacket and an old baseball cap. He blows into his gloveless hands hoping to generate a little warmth, and repeatedly places them over his frigidly cold ears.
John’s walk is unusually slow and wobbly. But it is not because he is physically challenged or has an injury that troubles him. It is his shoes. They are much too big. He is wearing three pairs of socks, but they are still large enough to slide off every time he takes a step. It is also the style of the shoes. Sad, but true, this little American Indian boy is wearing a pair of “spiked” high heels! Why? Because he had no shoes of his own.
CONSIDER, in order for John to get to school in the deep winter snow, he must wear these shoes so that his toes will not freeze off. Education is the only way to break the endless cycle of poverty for most of the people on these Reservations.
Matthew 25: Ministries held a shoe distribution day on his Reservation. Twenty thousand pairs of sturdy new shoes were distributed to John and his family and thousands more like them. Thousands more pairs of shoes are ready to ship from our warehouses, to meet the continuing need.
Rev. Wendell Mettey
Revised 5/29/2014
