Good Shoes Guide You to Great Places

These are my new shoes. Aren't they fantastic? Not because they are designer and not because they are gorgeous but these shoes were an unexpected gift. If found them at the Carpenter's House ministry, who serves the New Orleans community through providing free clothes, food, and showers. I couldn't help browsing through the clothing center (of course). Among the many pairs of old and dusty shoes I stumbled across a pair of BCBG heals that happened to be my size!! so I tried them on, walked around, and gently put them back on the shelf. I kept going back to see if anyone had taken the shoes and day after day they were still there. Eventually Louis, the person who keeps the Carpenter's House running, told me that I should take the shoes because they were for me. I told him that I had tons of shoes and somebody else needs them more than I do. He told me that he does not have a lot of money but with the few coins he has he will ship them to me if I did not take them. "Consider it New Orlean's gift to you" were his exact words and I couldn't turn him down. On the last night we were in New Orleans I wore these shoes all over the city and although I refused to admit it, these shoes were PAINFUL but I didn't want to take them off because they were my shoes.
I would have never expected to find something so valuable in a pile of used, old, and dusty clothing but honestly, New Orleans is the same way. A cloud of depression and sorrow overlooks the city, which is obvious by the hundreds of wrecked homes without families. If you look hard enough, beyond the detestation Katrina left, there is still a something so beautiful about the city itself. All it takes is to sit along the Mississippi river or a bike ride through the neighborhood.
I didn't want to take the shoes because I felt like I didn't need them, since I have so many pairs at home. But because someone who has nothing is still able to give away everything, it was a blessing that allowed hope to bloom. New Orleans is a city that seems to have nothing left, and yet there is still hope in Christ because His servant's have been faithful.