On … WalMart Shoes?

For almost a straight month I have been writing blogs in my mind, wishing people could read me. But I am finally taking the time to write online. Thank you so much for your time and enjoy my first story!

It is a little past 9am and my family is packing into the car to head to church. My brother steps into the back of the car and I notice his shoes. My first words were “Nice shoes bro.”

These shoes we once gray or white cloth DCs slip-ons; the tongue was ripping from the foundation of the shoe, showing strings holding on to dear life to hold these together. They were stained green and black from my little brother, Pooh, mowing grass and running outside with his friends.

My mom, in the driver’s seat, immediately knew what shoes he was wearing. She asked him why he couldn’t put on the ones our nana got him– I wished I could say she asked him politely to change shoes before we left– but Pooh has the potential to ruin a new pair of shoes within one month because he plays outside in all of his new ones– so their lives are cut short, and thusly so is my mom’s temper.

He comes back into the car with a pair of light green and navy blue shoes that look rather athletic-looking and decent to me at least, something I wouldn’t mind wearing. I asked Pooh confused and astonished, “Why didn’t you put those on in the first place?” They barely look like they had been worn and they had plenty of life still in them compared to the DCs. Before he could respond to my question, my mom tells me it’s because they were WalMart shoes. I just shrugged my shoulders, and shook my head and went back to minding my business. But this continued to eat at me as I questioned his motive.

I thought all throughout church and on the way home why he would care that they were WalMart shoes. Then I had realized what Jesus had done for me in my life, and the life that many people lead that don’t know Jesus. These lives revolved around impression and materialism.

I too have been guilty of materialism and the desire to impress people, it’s some of the reasons I have chosen certain clothes or how my hair looks. But when it came to my shoes, I could care less what people thought. Jesus has revealed to me that the opinion and thoughts of other people is so insignificant, it’s like water off a duck’s back. So while I still do struggle, my life doesn’t revolve around it. My friends, family, preachers– every single person on this earth cannot  determine nor have authority over my salvation and whether or not I go to heaven or Hell– the only person I should ever consider thinking of impressing is the One who says Yay or Nay to me entering the Kingdom of Heaven when I die. Makes sense, right? If You have not experienced this freedom, I want to welcome you into this– Jesus broke the standard of what we have to wear or do to impress people, he broke these so small insignificant worries when he preached the sermon on the Mount– he welcomes us to first seek his kingdom and the rest will follow. Oh the freedom it brings!

My story isn’t finished yet, though. So as my family is back home, my brother and I are in the kitchen, and he’s trying to find a wrench to tighten his pocket knife blade…perfect timing to talk about Jesus (something I should do more often). I ask him why he cared if he wore WalMart shoes. And what he said was so heart-breaking, coming from this 7th grader at 11 years old:

“If I wear them my friends will make fun of me and just continue to bully me for wearing shoes from WalMart”

Oh how I wish I was there to quickly defend him and tell these kids of their insignificant opinions. But what blew my mind was this: My brother would have rather worn falling-a-part designer DCs than wear almost-new WalMart brand shoes, not just outside to play with his friends, but to church.

Something had defiantly went wrong, two things in fact. I have failed as a brother to show my brother and share with him what Jesus says in Matthew 6. Secondly, even to church, my brother fears of being judged of wearing his WalMart shoes. Are. You. Kidding. Church should be the first place we feel we won’t be judged or taunted by the shoes we wear. I love the people and community of Southeast Christian, but perhaps it’s our culture as a whole that set these expectations for people to meet in order to be considered cool or welcome into our church. No no no no no. We must be a church that countercultures that entire idea — a church that doesn’t label people as poor or rich, 1st or 2nd class, 2000 Honda riding family or an 8 passenger Mercedes riding family, or labels people as Nike wearing or WalMart wearing, no: these are our brothers and sisters united in Christ Jesus. Connecting people to Jesus and One Another. No one should ever have to worry about wearing WalMart shoes to church on Sunday opposed to falling apart designer shoes, and I love that Southeast does indeed welcome everyone no matter what they wear.

As for my little brother, I shared with him this good news. I told him how their opinions should be like water on a duck’s back, and that Jesus’ opinion is the only one that ever matters. I shared with Pooh that if he allowed his friends to dictate what he wore, he would ultimately spend the rest of his life wanting to please people– going from a school of maybe 200 students to impress  to 2000 students to impress in high school. I shared of how our culture was ever changing, and when we impress our friends finally, it won’t be enough because the next cool thing will be out, the next trend, and he would have to keep up constantly in order to have this acceptance from so-called friends. I so joyfully told him how he couldn’t allow friends to label him because he has been identified as a son of the God Who Created The Universe! Humerously, I got a nonchalantly “Okay” from him.. I’m hoping somehow he got through his head, but I hope this story encourages you to share this freedom or welcomes you into this lifestyle that is like no other.

Thank you for taking your time to read. God Bless .

-Thoughts from a senior guy,

Ricky

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