The Soulshine Man

It was late afternoon, this last Saturday that I braved out into a drizzle of rain looking for a shoeshine man before going to service.  The city was deserted and the open-air shoeshine booths were all bundled closed.  Except one…

He was not the best looking dude in town, as a matter a fact he was barefooted, huddled under his large “beach” umbrella waiting for his last customer… me.

“Do you want to read the newspaper while I work on your shoes”, he asked as he was caressing the leather of my Sunday shoes.  Shaking my head in negative reply, I watched him work on my soul… ah, sorry, shoes.

He looked up and gave me a serious report about my shoes “the leather is dried out”… I had never noticed! The shoes did not look too bad, what does he mean saying the leather dried out?

Over the next 25 minutes, I watched him work on my soul, uh, excuse me… shoes.  Meanwhile, the drizzle intensified, splattering on his hunched back.

He rubbed into the leather (tired soul leather) seven layers of wax polish.  I counted! Seven layers! After each layer, he gently brushed away the excess and rubbed in another coat of protective buff.

Wide-eyed I saw him rub the polish into the leather with his bare hands!  With wonderment, I realized this man was not the standard shoe shiner plying the trade on every corner.  No, this was, well, he was a shoe doctor.  I could tell when he occasionally looked up… his eyes told the story…he was dealing with a sick pair of shoes… or was it a soul?

Fifteen minutes ago I felt quite proud of my Sunday shoes… now, I was worried about them.  Only after he mentioned the dryness, I did notice the hairline cracks in the leather!  The cracks were everywhere!

Finally, unable to contain myself, I broke the silence and asked: “how long have you shined shoes?” He replied without looking up (although I could hear the glean in his voice) “forty two years”.   He continued “I care about shoes, I LOVE shoes; that is why I am still here this late Saturday evening!”  Embolden, I asked, “do you always spend this much time on a pair of shoes?”… “Only when they need the added time… yours really need extra care.”  I went silent again…

Another customer showed up.  Unbothered, not at all rushed to pick up another Brazilian dollar or two, he continued working on my soul, oops, shoes.

At last, about when the street lights started glowing, he pulled off the protective sock covers and gentled rubbed my shoes good-by.  He then helped me down from the booth chair as I looked down at the shoes.  Beautiful and lovely, my shoes looked worthy of a King.  Best of all, the drizzle had ceased.  I was ready for church!

As I walked back down the street I realized that an “Elder” had work on my soul… excuse me, shoes.

I looked down again at the work of that master artesian.  Because of forty-two years of experience with shoes, he knew what tired leather looked like when he saw a bad case. He knew the serious significance of hairline cracks.  He was a true Elder.

Elders are those men of God that have weathered decades of Apostolic service and are in love with their calling.  They are dedicated to soul-shining… if you know what I mean.

Real elders are not into the money business, but rather into the soul-shining of men.  True elders may not dress as sharp as the “hot” evangelist who just breezed into town last week… On the other hand, an Elder does not disappear when you need him most!  An Elder cares enough to wait in the rain for you to show up with your scuffed soul.

Let your elder shine your soul!