August 31, 2009 • By Barbara Parentini

 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?    Mark 8:35-36  NKJV

 

           Last Sunday as I headed for the church parking lot, my friend began scuffing her shoe against the asphalt like a bull before he charges his victim.  "There's something stuck on the bottom of my shoe.  It feels sticky."  She continued to scrape her soles in earnest and lifted her foot so I could inspect the bottom of her shoe.

The entire sole was missing.  I declare! She had lost her sole!  The entire covering from heel to toe was gone.  We retraced her steps all over the church grounds in our search.  The play on words of losing her sole tickled me and I approached our pastors with an announcement that we had a crisis: "Judi has lost her sole!"  The senior pastor looked at me with wide eyes, then grinned, "You mean, the sole of her shoe?"  We all had a good laugh, though she never did find it; only a dry, crumbled piece was found on the car floor.

 

On my way home, I wondered how many people around the world had stepped into a church that morning, as well as those who had never darkened a church door, who would lose their souls to the world they followed.  My dear friend who lost the sole of her shoe is a follower of Jesus, and puts her shoes to good use in service for His kingdom.  Many years ago, she had stepped out in faith to follow Christ as her Lord and Savior.  Unlike the sole of a shoe that can disintegrate over time and needs to be replaced, a Believer's soul will never wear out and is destined to spend eternity walking the streets of gold.

 

 

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