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Who are you walking with?

“Hey Man,” I said calmly as my friend and I walked passed him in the alley.  I’ve started almost every street conversation with that very phrase. I suppose to the one who hears it sounds ordinary, common, even rude at times.  To me it means, I see you, you are worth noticing, you’re not invisible. And it always comes without agenda that often leads to something more.

I met Rodney because I was walking the alley behind a bungalow house that was up for sale.  My friend and I had been out looking for a home to buy or rent and exploring neighborhoods. When we saw this house, it wasn’t the home that I knew I was suppose to buy, but it was the exact block I was suppose to begin the next missionary life in.  It seemed within moments, looking at the park across the street filled with homeless folks, discarded condoms, empty bottles and a deal going down,that was where I wanted to be. The basketball court, the creek, the swings, the vast grassy space began to fill my mind of the what ifs.  But as my friend and I walked the alley where the whole block parks and enters their homes, it was ever so clear, these were to be the people I was sent live among, with no agenda except love. And with three conversations with a mailman, a felon, and the perfect Whole Child of God, Rodney, I knew this was the place that I had been prepared for years to move into.  

The vision for Wholly Kicks flooded my being in the hours afterwards.  My outdoor friends in Colorado Springs knew for years that shoes could often be found in the back of my car, replacements for worn out ones, or better yet an upgrade to something that just looked cooler than the ones they had.  I have always had a bit of a vision of how to create a way to just help folks replace their tennis shoes. It’s always been more of a just realities of street life though, then what it is now. When Rodney said, ”But Jesus I suppose gives you the shoes that only you can walk in,” I realized there was a beautiful purpose to the shoe vision and one that could be so perfectly expanded on that would move from “replacement shoes” to one more way to remind everyone that you are whole and perfectly fashioned by the One who made you.  You are walking this life that is unique to you. Yet the walk is so much more graceful and freeing when we are walking with others. And it is full of physical and emotional “holes” and it is sustained by “holy” things and it is encompassed by lives that are “whole” no matter what may appear broken.

Wholly Kicks isn’t a charity that gives away shoes, though I hope we do that well and gracefully.  It’s vision is to find creative and real ways to “walk with” folks on their journeys: Walking in parks, on streets, in alleys, in homes, in businesses, in churches, in schools.  And just maybe some new kicks will be the thing that gets people to move from the casual “hey” to actually walking with others on their journey. And better yet, finding some new friends who may start to travel on your path and start walking your journey with you.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row disable_element=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1549039663491{margin-top: 2.2em !important;margin-bottom: 4.4em !important;}”][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”0.7em”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1549039809252{margin-bottom: 2.7em !important;}”]Coming Soon![/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”70px”][/vc_column][/vc_row]