
I’ll bet you know last Thursday was The National Day of Prayer.
But I bet you don’t know what last Wednesday was.
It was National Two Different Colored Shoes Day
On Wednesday, as I was finishing up last minute details for Thursday’s National Day of Prayer event, notice of National Two Different Colored Shoes Day popped up on my computer and I was taken back to a sermon I once heard about a man who was commissioned to paint a picture of the Prodigal Son’s return.
The artist worked diligently to create an image truly worthy of depicting this famous parable from the gospel of Luke. Finally, the day came when the painting was finished.
The unveiling revealed a scene set outside the father’s house, and showed the open arms of each as they were just about to meet and embrace.
The man who commissioned the work was well pleased, and was prepared to pay the painter for his work, when he noticed a detail he had overlooked. Standing out in the painting above everything else in the scene, was the starkly apparent fact that the father was wearing one red shoe and one blue shoe.
He was incredulous. How could this be, that the painter could make such an error?
He questioned the painter, who simply smiled and said,
“Yes, this is a beautiful representation of the love of God for His children.”
“What do you mean?” the puzzled man asked.
“The father in this picture had no thought of being fashionable or color-coordinated when he went out to meet his son. In fact, he was in such a hurry to show his love to his son, he simply grabbed the nearest two shoes that he could find.”
I had to wonder how many people, wearing different colored shoes last Wednesday, were aware of the portrait of God’s fierce love and unfailing grace they were displaying. How fitting that National Two Different Colored Shoes Days should fall on the day before our nation was preparing to return to The Father seeking His forgiving embrace, and cry out to Him, for His great name’s sake, to bless and preserve our nation.
Isn’t it wonderful to know that no matter how deeply we sin, no matter how badly we mess it all up, individually or as a nation, the moment we truly desire to change and long to come back to Him…He hurries to roll up His sleeves and rushes towards us?
He is the God of the Unmatched Shoes.