The Gift of the Gospel-And Shoe Strings–February 2025

My friend Paige and I headed to downtown Seattle for a one day mission trip. After a stop at the Adoration House of Prayer for some time to fill up in God’s presence, we were on the Seattle link bound for International District.

I shared with Paige the testimony of Lu’s healing from the previous week and we were excited what might take place that day. After walking around a bit in the International District and talking with a few people, we came across a younger man “M” with a dog outside of the Iwagima grocery store. He had a sign that he had been using to express his needs and I noticed his shoes didn’t have any shoe laces in them. He was friendly with us and thankful for our kindness as we talked with him. We told him we would look for shoe strings for him.

As we walked around Iwagima we discovered many interesting items—but no shoe strings. We came out a little sad and told “M” we struck out. He was very thankful that we tried and allowed us to pray with him. Then we began to talk with him about spiritual beliefs and he shared how he was interested but not yet a believer in Jesus. I was able to share the gospel with him in a very natural way, using the 3 circles method. I was also blessed to have a natural way to demonstrate this for Paige.

He really thanked us and clearly was thinking about the message we had shared with him as we walked off. Paige told me we needed to look for shoe strings at more stores and I agreed. A stop at a gas station resulted in no shoe strings and so we kept looking. We ended up going to a Japanese clothing store where they were willing to give us some string used to wrap packages. Paige pulled off one of his shoe strings for an accurate measurement. After we left the store, Paige pulled out his other shoe string and put the strings we had just acquired in his shoes. He told me that “I have more shoe strings at home.” As I write this I think of the word of John the Baptist found in Luke 3:11: “And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”

We returned to “M” and Paige gave him his shoe strings. “M” was delighted and I don’t think he had any idea they were from Paige’s shoes. If I remember correctly, we gave him a gospel booklet from Pocket Testament as well, which has a very relational spiritual dialogue, gospel presentation, and gospel of John. Paige was able to talk a bit more with “M” and hear more of His story as well. Let’s keep praying for “M” to surrender his life to Jesus!

This testimony really demonstrates a principle I like to teach that originally came from John Wimber called WWW: Word, works, and wonders. Word is sharing the gospel message and Biblical truth. Works are serving others and meeting practical needs. Wonders are when we move in supernatural spiritual gifts through the Holy Spirit. We see all three of these in the book of Acts. In this testimony, we saw how seeking to meet “M’s” need (works) made him more open to the Word. The previous testimony with Lu that I had shared with Paige about on the train was an example of a “wonder.” My prayer is that through the seeds sown in this encounter, he also has an encounter with the Lord and is left in wonder!