The late Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators, was visiting Taiwan on one of his overseas trips. During the visit he hiked with a Taiwanese pastor into one of the mountain villages to meet some of the national Christians. The roads and trails were wet and their shoes became very muddy.
Later, someone asked this Taiwanese pastor what he remembered most about Dawson Trotman. Without hesitation the man replied, “He cleaned my shoes.” How surprised this national pastor must have been to get up in the morning to find that the Christian leader from America had arisen before him and cleaned the mud from his shoes. Such a spirit of servanthood marked Dawson Trotman throughout his Christian life and ministry. He died as he lived, actually giving his life to rescue someone else from drowning.
And while we are on the subject of cleaning shoes. One of my favorite writers, Brennan Manning, was waiting to catch a plane in the Atlanta airport. He sat down to have his shoes shined where usually black men shine white men’s shoes. An elderly black man began to shine Brennan Manning’s shoes and while he was doing so, the Spirit of God spoke to Brennan Manning’s heart.
When the black man had finished, Brennan Manning paid him and gave him a generous tip. But he didn’t stop there. Looking at the elderly man who had just shined his shoes, he said, “Now, sir, you sit down in the chair because I want to shine your shoes.” “You’re going to do what?”, the elderly man said. Brennan Manning answered, “I want to shine your shoes. Come on now, sit down, and you teach me how to do it well.” As Brennan Manning began to shine the old man’s shoes, the old man began to weep. He then said, “No white man ever treated me this way.” They parted with a strong hug.
My favorite preacher, Fred Craddock, in an address to ministers, caught the practical implications of servanthood: “To give my life for Christ appears glorious. To pour myself out for others, to pay the ultimate price of martyrdom, I’ll do it. I’m ready, Lord, to go out in a blaze of glory. We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking a $1000 bill and laying it on a table–here’s my life, Lord. I’m giving it all. But the reality for most of us is that he sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $1000 for quarters. We go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there. Listen to the neighbor’s kid’s troubles instead of saying, ‘Get lost.’ Go to a committee meeting. Give a cup of cold water to a shaky old man in a nursing home. Usually giving our life to Christ isn’t glorious. It’s done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at a time. It would be easy to go out in a flash of glory; it’s harder to live the Christian life little by little over the long haul.”
Leave home every day with a quarter in your pocket and be sure to look for dirty shoes.
Richard