Do You Have a Pair of Shoes?

Last week I was listening to The View (Please don’t hold my watching against me. I so do enjoy good, civil debate, although their Hot Topics sometimes are too hot and the debate is not at all civil. Anyway, I feel I am supporting Elizabeth Hasselback, if not in person, in spirit. I digress.). The ladies’ guest was Tyler Perry, who was promoting his new movie Madea Goes to Prison. I am not a fan of the Perry movies because I really have this “thing” about men who dress as women. I have watched bits and pieces of the past movies and the sitcom on television, The House of Payne, and they are good for a laugh and a lesson here and there.

However, I was more carried away with Tyler Perry, the man, instead of the actor, director and producer. From everything I have read or heard about him, he is a good person who has tried to make his way in life by truly doing the right thing. He dropped out of high school, had a tempestuous relationship with his father, and was raised by his mother. Eventually, he earned his GED and has become a respected screenwriter, actor, director, producer, and entrepreneur. Raised in New Orleans, he now resides in Atlanta and owns a production studio located there. One of his best friends is Will Smith.

Now, before I relate what he said on the show that so intrigued me, let me point out a few things from the information I just gave you. Despite the conditions in which he was raised and not using them as an excuse for failure, he has become a respectable person. He has worked hard to get where he is, he does not live in the center of the Hollywood lifestyle, and he prefers to offer his opinions about life through his movies, instead of expressing it in a loud and often offensive way that makes him seem as if he is the be all to end all (Anyone heard of Sean Penn? Bill Maher?). That Will Smith is a good friend is not bad either. Perry apparently gives back to his community by providing jobs and helping those in need.

I think it was Barbara Walters who asked Perry how his life had changed with success and he related this story:

One day Perry was out in the community and a rather ragged lady, maybe homeless, asked him if he could give her a pair of shoes. He was so touched by her question he immediately went in the studio and found her a pair of shoes. When he gave her the shoes, she said, “Thank you, Lord, for my feet not touching the ground.” Her comment made him realize how far he had come. In turn, I was so touched by the story that it stayed with me the rest of the day, and I got to thinking how appropriate her quote was for us and our relationship with God. He provides so many blessings for us on a daily basis that if we think about it, our feet never touch the ground. We are able to walk in His love and grace, being spared from the shards of glass, rocks, mud, and rough terrain that can hinder our Christian walk. Sometimes we stumble and sometimes the path is rough, but our feet never touch the ground because He is with us. It is my prayer that your feet never touch the ground, and when the going does get tough, Jesus is there to give you a pair of shoes.