As I walked by his shoe shine stand in the Atlanta airport last week, this middle-aged man disengaged momentarily from his book and said, “I can take care of those shoes.”

“Why not?” I figured. “I have time.”

As I would soon find out, the most important reason I went back and sat in his chair was not to get my shoes shined, but to meet this man who reminded me of some very important biblical truths.

He has been shining shoes for forty-three years, since he was thirteen years old. I asked a couple questions and learned a lot about this man who identifies himself as Levi Shoedini.

His given name is Levi – but not Shoedini. McCoy is his real name. “Back in 1986,” he recounted with a smile, “I shined this man’s shoes – he was in his ninety’s. . . After the shoeshine he gave me a $100 tip and said, ‘This is the best shine I’ve ever received. You did magic on these shoes. I’m calling you Shoedini’” (an obvious reference to the famed magician of last century, Harry Houdini).

The name has stuck!

Shoedini loves Jesus. The book he was reading when I passed his shoe shine stand last Friday was a Gideon’s New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. It was dog-eared – well worn – every page had been pored over.

He had been reading Psalm 37, and proceeded to quote many of its verses to me as he skillfully “shoedini-ed” my cordovans. He was the happiest shoe shiner I’ve met – and I’ve sat in scores of their chairs in airports across America.

Then he started telling me about how much he loved Jesus – how he was filled with the Holy Spirit and served as a deacon in his church. Pointing to the huge black chair in which I was sitting, he said boldly, “This is my ministry. . . this is where I pray for people and share Christ with them.” He’s been doing it for forty-three years and it doesn’t seem to have affected his enthusiasm and passion. He is an unashamed Christ-follower – and a mighty good shoe shiner, too!

I have a hunch – though I don’t know for sure – that Shoedini is probably doing some of his most effective ministry at his big black chair. He transformed my shoes and showed me the love of Christ – all at the same time. While my tip wasn’t $100, it was certainly bigger than normal.

I’ve talked with hundreds of people while criss-crossing our country the last fifteen months. Most of them I don’t remember. But I think I’ll always remember Levi, the shoe shine guy. And I’ll smile ever time I say, “Shoedini.”

We might call what follows – Lessons From Levi!

• Whatever we do, we should do it the best we can. People notice.
• Happily being who God has called us to be is more important than making lots of money or being known by lots of people.
• Ministry is a lot more than preaching, teaching, or singing in a church service – it is serving Christ by serving people any way we can. Ministry is any act of service by which we demonstrate the love and grace of Jesus.
• We can influence a lot of people by just being nice. Jesus was nice.
• What we do outside the church building may, in reality, be more important for the cause of Christ than what we do inside.
• The way we do our work and relate to people will affect them more than what we say.

Next time you’re in the North Terminal at the huge Atlanta airport, check out the hallway near ticket counters 16 – 30. There’ll you probably find Shoedini working his magic on someone’s shoes and shining Christ’s love into someone’s soul.

Shoedini’s finishing strong – doing what God has called him to do. I’m committed to do the same! Hope you are, too!

JMP

This entry was posted on Friday, November 16th, 2007 at 11:27 am and is filed under Encouragement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.