{"id":506,"date":"2011-01-16T07:35:28","date_gmt":"2011-01-16T13:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/?p=506"},"modified":"2014-01-02T06:32:55","modified_gmt":"2014-01-02T12:32:55","slug":"how-beautiful-are-the-feet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/how-beautiful-are-the-feet\/","title":{"rendered":"How Beautiful are the Feet&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I have feet problems. \u00a0This may not be the type of post you want to hear from Uganda, but it affects everything I do. \u00a0 All of these problems are ones I have inherited. \u00a0 \u00a0My feet by now are not attractive. \u00a0They swell easily and I am being told I need about 3 progressional surgeries on each foot to fix them. \u00a0 I&#8217;m not ready to succumb to constant rehabilitation of my feet. \u00a0 I have work to do, places to go, things to see. \u00a0 I can&#8217;t be bothered by these feet right now. Thankfully I have little orphan prayer warriors in Northern Uganda that pray for my feet daily. \u00a0We are all expecting my miracle<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">When I arrived here my ankles and feet were so swollen from the sitting in the plane I could barely walk. \u00a0After a week of better care and of course after my bags were located and medicine was found, my feet became tolerable again. \u00a0I was\u00a0embarrassed\u00a0by how swollen and horrible my feet looked and still look. \u00a0This photo is a one of a kind, I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ve ever photographed my foot.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Looking around at the feet of the people here, they aren&#8217;t so beautiful either, they are worn, scarred and toughened from years of work without shoes. \u00a0Even the little children have feet that look well different than a pampered American foot. \u00a0 I see those feet as beautiful, and they tell a story.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I started thinking of all the feet quotes that I could since I am a bit of a wordsmith, then looked up a few more! \u00a0(Oh the things you think of when in Africa)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A few of my favorites:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>\u201cBetter slip with\u00a0foot than tongue\u201d ~Benjamin Franklin~<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>\u201cFaith must trample under\u00a0foot all reason, sense, and understanding.\u201d \u00a0~Martin Luther~<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>\u201cThink of the magic of that\u00a0foot, comparatively small, upon which your whole weight rests. It&#8217;s a miracle, and the dance&#8230;is a celebration of that miracle.\u201d \u00a0~Martha Washington~<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Every time I go to orphanages where I will be showing my feet I get a pretty pedicure with flowers and polka dots for the children. \u00a0 They so love my pretty toes. \u00a0They get down on the ground for inspection, and touch my feet and toes. \u00a0 I&#8217;ve discovered though that toes are merely a\u00a0part of the\u00a0foot used to find furniture in the dark and raised door frames in foreign lands.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>[pullquote]\u201cHow beautiful on the mountains are the feet\u00a0of those who bring good news\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0(Isaiah 52:7)[\/pullquote]<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I was reminded of this scripture by our volunteer Stephanie Williams. \u00a0 Thank you Steph.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I think I&#8217;ve tried to adorn my feet for my work here, and they have become beautiful because of that work, not because of my adornment of them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The beauty and the delight are really found\u00a0not in the anatomy or the shape of the foot,\u00a0but in the activity \u2013 what the foot does, where the foot takes you. The world is full of waste and barren places,\u00a0where there is no peace and no justice. \u00a0As a human race we have to get to our feet \u00a0and do beautiful things.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">We do have a choice \u2013\u00a0Sit and do nothing, or put our best foot forward and do something.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">One of the most famous of the 19<sup>th<\/sup> Century\u00a0Christian Missionaries to China was Hudson Taylor. \u00a0One day when Taylor was in the UK, \u00a0a man called George Scott came to see him\u00a0and offered to go as a Missionary to China. \u00a0George Scott was a school teacher.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He also had only one leg.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Taylor said, &#8220;With only one leg, why do you think of going as a missionary?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;I do not see those with two legs going,&#8221; replied Scott. \u00a0\u00a0He was accepted.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">When I read this tonight, I was reminded why I go and work for the children, even in my situation with my feet. \u00a0 I know that God will sustain my foot health as I&#8217;m serving the children and\u00a0families\u00a0of our work. \u00a0One leg or two, beautiful healthy feet or not, when we hear the call to justice or peace, do we leave it to others, or do we put our best foot forward?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">There are people out there that believe God has forsaken them, that an injustice has been brought upon their lives. \u00a0 Maybe these people only need a cow for milk, or they need medicine for their malaria, maybe someone to help them rebuild 20 years of being war-ravaged. \u00a0They need assistance in fostering relationships, learning how to care for themselves with their resources at hand or economic justice&#8230;or maybe they just need to know that their lives have not been for nothing. \u00a0Everyone needs to know they have a purpose. \u00a0 Maybe they need just a smile, a show of respect, a hug&#8230;love.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">[pullquote]An African Proverb: <em> \u201cThe longest journey starts with a single step\u201d<\/em>[\/pullquote]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">It might be you in your support through me or me they see coming down the dusty pot-holed road. \u00a0 Limping, but willing, and ready for the long trek, often by foot.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">And they will cry out, and praise the Lord\u00a0as they see us, <em> \u201dHow beautiful \u2026 are the feet of those who bring good news,&#8221;<\/em> and welcome us with open arms, never ever noticing our tired swollen feet, however, the shoes&#8230;they will notice those since there are none on their feet.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5121\/5359827755_fc05ac0646.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Made for Walking...\" alt=\"Made for Walking...\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5121\/5359827755_fc05ac0646.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A gentleman&#8217;s shoes in Uganda must always be clean.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><object width=\"250\" height=\"40\" classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"window\" \/><param name=\"allowScriptAccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"flashvars\" value=\"hostname=cowbell.grooveshark.com&amp;widgetID=23348051&amp;style=wood&amp;p=0\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/listen.grooveshark.com\/songWidget.swf\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><embed width=\"250\" height=\"40\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" src=\"http:\/\/listen.grooveshark.com\/songWidget.swf\" wmode=\"window\" allowScriptAccess=\"always\" flashvars=\"hostname=cowbell.grooveshark.com&amp;widgetID=23348051&amp;style=wood&amp;p=0\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" \/><\/object><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have feet problems.  This may not be the type of post you want to hear from Uganda, but it affects everything I do.   All of these problems are ones I have inherited.    My feet by now are not attractive.  They swell easily and I am being told I need about 3 progressional surgeries on each foot to fix them.   I&#8217;m not ready to succumb to constant rehabilitation of my feet.   I have work to do, places to go, things to see.   I can&#8217;t be bothered by these feet right now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[398,400,397,399,401],"class_list":["post-506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-beautiful-are-the-feet","tag-best-foot-forward","tag-feet","tag-feet-in-uganda","tag-step-in-the-right-direction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":760,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506\/revisions\/760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespicytexan.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}