This morning I met a shoe shiner.
His hands were rough. His face and hands soiled and dirty as though they had not been cleaned for months. His clothes were tattered and worn. His little box of shoe shining equipment was clutched tightly in his hands as though it were the most valuable possession he owned.
He was seven years old.
He had been shining shoes on the streets of Ecuador already for 3 years. His parents required him to bring home $5 every day. If he did not do this, he was beaten.
One of the Pastors allowed him to polish his shoes – even though the shoes were quite fine. He shined the shoes with the experience of someone who has known the work and is comfortable with it. When he was done, the Pastor handed him the change from his pocket.
His little brother was with him. His little brother was four. His face was haunted by a desperation that I have rarely seen on a child his age. He begged for money. Passionately. When I asked his name, he shook his head and turned away. He didn’t want to talk to me. He just wanted the money.
And as he turned away, I saw in his eyes a child who had been deeply wounded.
I had no change. I had no shoes that needed to be shined.
I had nothing to give him. And I didn’t even speak Spanish to communicate these things.
At the moment where I didn’t know what to do, the Pastor asked in Spanish if the boys would mind him praying for them. I don’t know if he gave them time to respond, but he put his hands on their heads, bent down, and prayed.
At first, I didn’t know if the moment was too intimate for me to become a part of. But I felt the gentle nudge of the Holy Spirit. Slowly, I reached out and took the hand of the little four-year-old shoe shiner. At first, his hand was limp in mine. But then, as the Pastor continued praying, I gently stroked the dirty hand with my thumb. And I felt the little one slowly grip my fingers.
Jacob offered to pay for them to come to the children’s seminar. The seven year old wanted to come and was so excited. The four year old didn’t want anything to do with it.
But tonight, as we gathered the children into the chapel, there was no sign of the little street cleaner. And I have to wonder, why? Is it because he didn’t get his $5 and was beaten? Was it because his parents refused to grant him the freedom to take “charity?”
I don’t know.
Tonight I have been pondering what took place. My soul and spirit feels so burdened for these hurting little ones. And that is when I realized something. The Revolutionary Media slogan is “See the need, be the change.” Well, sometimes it’s a sacrifice to be the change. But you know what? Sometimes it’s even harder to know that you can’t be the change, but you still need to see the need.
Because Jesus…He saw the needs.
Of
The
Whole
World.
Sometimes, you can’t be a change until you are willing to see the needs. For when you see those needs, when you see them with both physical and spiritual eyes – that is when the fire is lit within you to be the change.
Perhaps seeing needs like that is a greater burden than being the change.
So the question is this:
If you want to change the world, will you bear the burden of its needs?
If your not willing to do this, there’s no way Jesus will use You to affect change as His hands and feet. For Jesus Himself bore the burden of the needs of the world – and He was willing to die for them.
Are you?
Today, I saw the needs of a four-year-old little boy. I couldn’t be any change in his life. Except in the tiny, and seemingly insignificant way of holding his hand. I don’t know if it affected him. And I probably never will. Honesty, I don’t even think that matters. Why? Because I wonder…
If Jesus saw his need, would He have held the little four-year-old shoe shiner’s hand too?
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