Follow Up To One Day Without Shoes

April 5th was "One Day Without Shoes Day."

I went an entire day without any shoes on. Fortunately the sun was out and it was relatively warm. I did not know what to expect. I had been planning for the day for a few weeks and it finally arrived. I decided to write on my feet to hopefully open up more conversation. I had a few meetings at different places and knew that I would be in some stores where surely they would not allow shoes.

As I walked out of the house to take Kynzi to school I felt the chill of concrete on my bones. Almost a stinging sensation, like when the tiny rain drops fall. I had a meeting at the church and then to the office. Those were pretty easy. It was my meeting with a youth pastor at Starbucks that would be my first venture into "the world." I didn't get a single look. Weird. The same went for when we went to the Green Apple frozen yogurt place.

Although I didn't get the questions and looks I was expecting, I felt. I felt the cold on my feet, which caused my whole body to be cold. I also stepped out in the parking lot at my office and found broken pieces of glass all around my parking spot. I stepped carefully around the pieces knowing there were plenty of shards that were small enough to not be seen and possibly in my feet already. I didn't feel any pain, but I did feel for those around the world who can't afford shoes. That was significant. If no one else was moved by what I was doing that day, I was.

I know that when I head to Ethiopia I am sure to see people without shoes. That will be hard. Below is a compilation video of my day in under 2 minutes.

Facebook readers click here to view the video.

One Day Without Shoes (update)

I don't know if you caught my blog a few weeks ago when I talked about One Day Without Shoes, but tomorrow is the day! Toms shoes is an amazing company with an amazing strategy. For every pair of shoes they sell, another pair of shoes is sent to someone in a developing country. I love this concept and I wish more and more companies would do the same thing.

Tomorrow millions around the world will spend the day walking barefoot to raise awareness of how a HUGE population of the world can not afford their own shoes. I will be one of those people. Will you join me? Someone asked me if there was more that they could do than just "raise awareness" and I began to think about it. I am headed to Ethiopia SOON (we do not know when yet, but we are praying we get an answer here any day). I would love to collect NEW or "gently used" shoes to take with us. We will bring extra suitcases with us to fit the shoes in.

The key is that these shoes should NOT stink! Please do not give me year old plus shoes. They need to look new if they are not brand new. Contact me with how to get those shoes to me. Just email me here.

Want more info? Check out toms.com and you can also download their iPhone and Droid app.

One Day Without Shoes

I have discovered something about myself. The more I do for others, the more I want to do for others. Every time I do a service project  or go on a missions trip or help a neighbor with something I find myself wanting to do more. Ever since God opened my heart to adoption I have had this sense that I need to be doing more. I remember in the beginning of last year I gave up my Starbucks card I had been using for years to use a new (Red) Starbucks card. Every time I used it a portion of the money went to Africa. I know that may not seem like a big deal to you, but I love hearing, "Wow, I haven't seen that card in a REALLY long time!" or "Where did you get that card? I have never seen it before." (rookies). Anyhow, I wanted to make a difference even with my Refreshe Tea.

Sometimes the things I find my self doing or wanting to do are small, but sometimes they are more significant. I recently was on the TOMS website getting a shirt for a friend who was not able to get onto their website. When I got on I saw this information about "One Day Without Shoes." Let me back up a moment before I explain. TOMS is a shoe company that gives a pair of shoes to someone in a 3rd world country for every pair of shoes they sell. I LOVE that model. My wife and daughter have TOMS and I love that we have given a pair of shoes for each pair that they own.

Now, to the One Day Without Shoes story. I saw this about 2 years ago when Hanson promoted it and walked with a whole bunch of other people barefoot. I thought it was pretty cool, but I did not do anything that time around. TOMS is trying to raise awareness. This is what they say on their website. "Millions of kids grow up without shoes and at risk of infection and disease. One Day Without Shoes is the day way take off our shoes and raise awareness of the impact a pair of shoes can have on a child's life."

So I have put together a "team" of people who will join me on this day to raise awareness. This team would not be complete without you. Would you join my "team" and go without shoes on this day and help me raise awareness of this issue? Click here and join my team. Let's get the word out there. Feel free to jump onto TOMS website and buy a pair of shoes too.