A Hole in the Sole

      Shortly after becoming the student-pastor of Faith Church, my very first church, the District Superintendent, Dr. Shumate, came for his annual visit.  In those days it was a practice that the D. S. would visit each church on the district at least once each year.

      Of course, I nervously welcomed him and was anxious to put my best foot forward, so to speak, during his visit.  His was a cordial visit with his bringing an appropriate message and encouraging sermon to the congregation.

       I remember only one thing about his visit—and that was not his message.  It was, rather, the fact that he had a rather sizable hole worn in his left shoe sole.  As he sat on the platform with legs crossed it was obvious to everyone in the congregation and was somewhat astonishing to me.  As the D. S. he was making more salary than any other minister on the entire district, so I was surprised that he was wearing a pair of worn-out shoes.

      At the time I wondered if he deliberately wore those shoes because he was coming to a small church with mostly poor people, and he did not want to be decked out in his finest.   It could be, of course, that those were his best shoes, but I seriously doubted it at the time and still have my doubts.

      Whatever the case, I had and still have some admiration for Dr. Shumate for his willingness to blend in with our poor congregation.  Could the Apostle Paul have had this type of thing in mind when he told the Corinthians that he wanted to be “made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some”  (I Cor. 9:22)?

      I suppose it is better to have a hole in one’s sole than in one’s soul!