Real Heroes: Give the Shirt Off Their Back

Another World Away

You know those folks that people describe as,”He’d give you the shirt off his back!”?  I love those people. They are always willing to lend a hand, go the extra mile, put someone else’s comfort before their own.  I was able to witness such a person a few days ago at a Sole Hope foot washing and jigger removal clinic north of Jinja, Uganda.

We were nearing the end of the clinic when David sat down to have his feet checked.  He was by far one of the worst cases of the day.  He had approximately 75-100 jiggers in his feet and hands.  By the time they were removed he was missing major parts of his feet.

David was a little older than most of the children we had seen that day and his feet were quite a bit bigger.  We had gone through over 100 pairs of shoes and were totally out of the larger sizes.  Asher who had been comforting David shouted out “We need some shoes!”

He’d give you the shirt off his back!

We had a small crew of wonderful people from Next Step Ministries with us for this clinic.  One of them was Andrew, a generous, selfless, and compassionate man who literally gave the “shoes off his feet” to David, the young boy in need.  He did this with no hesitation or announcement.  He simply saw the need and realized he could do something about it.

Actions. Speak. Louder.

Our friend Bob Goff Says it best like this: “You don’t need a plan; you just need to be present.” 
― Bob Goff, Love Does .  Andrew did just that. I doubt that he came a few thousand miles to Jinja, thinking: “I’m going to give away my shoes to a kid!” No in the moment, he was present, and jumped at the chance to help David.

Real Heroes: Give You the Shirt Off Their Backs. How can you be present to those in your today like Andrew was?

Oh-Here is David in Andrew’s shoes.