A bus driver gave a woman the shoes off her feet in a beautiful act of generosity and love.

The world is a sad, cruel and lost place. Sin has done a number on our society, destroying anything and everything it encounters. As a result, many people are hurting and struggling, desperately looking for anything that may give them even the tiniest bit of hope.

Individuals struggling and suffering are all around us. They could be your co-worker, neighbor, someone we pass on the street or even a family member. There is plenty of need all around us. However, one question remains: How will we respond to and help those in need?

According to a video posted on YouTube, Minneapolis bus driver Jayne Arendt-Verhelst saw a need one day and acted swiftly to meet it. Jayne spotted a woman, who appeared to be homeless, standing in the middle of the road. Jayne stopped and gave the woman a lift. 

However, Jayne quickly noticed something unusual about the mysterious woman.

She didn’t have any shoes. For a second, Jayne put herself in that woman’s position, trying to see the world through her eyes.

“I can’t imagine what it’s like walking around in bare feet on the hot pavement, and just nobody sees you,” Jayne said. “She’s just kind of invisible, you know?”

But Jayne saw her and acted with generosity and love. The video shows Jayne taking the shoes off her feet and giving them to the unknown woman.

Yes, people are sinners and need the life-changing touch and forgiveness that can only come from Jesus Christ. But we must meet people where they are first. If someone is hungry, thirsty, doesn’t have a coat or lacks some other kind of necessity and we don’t meet that need, how receptive are they going to be to anything else we say or do?

Acts 20:35 “In all things I was an example to you of how, in your lives, you are to give help to the feeble, and keep in memory the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘There is a greater blessing in giving than in getting.’”