{"id":399,"date":"2013-05-17T17:06:24","date_gmt":"2013-05-17T17:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onfire\/?p=399"},"modified":"2013-05-17T17:06:24","modified_gmt":"2013-05-17T17:06:24","slug":"a-shoe-cobbler-and-a-prisoner-show-how-to-live-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/2013\/05\/17\/a-shoe-cobbler-and-a-prisoner-show-how-to-live-today\/","title":{"rendered":"A Shoe Cobbler and a Prisoner Show How to Live Today"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Shoe<\/a>
Shoe Cobbler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Henry Linder<\/a> is a 93-year-old shoe cobbler in a tiny town in the Carolinas. He\u2019s an internet sensation right now, even though he doesn\u2019t own a computer. Erik Olsen\u2019s documentary on Henry just won first place in iReport\u2019s Community Choice category.<\/a><\/p>\n

Henry retired from the shoe business in his seventies, Olsen reports. But he returned three months later, mainly because he missed his customers. Now Henry says he\u2019ll quit when his \u201ctoes point upwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henry is an example of doing work in a spirit of true service. His craftsmanship is superb but his focus isn\u2019t on the shoes. “I make other people happy, or I think I do — they say I do.”<\/p>\n

“I’ve made more friends than I’ve made money, I imagine,” he says.<\/p>\n

Henry reminds me of someone.<\/p>\n

Lisa (not her real name) was in an out-of-the-way place too\u2014the Denver women’s prison. She was a student in our class, \u201cFind Your Purpose Now.\u201d The class was based on the assumption that everyone has a purpose and we are called to carry it out, even if we are\u2014heaven forbid\u2014incarcerated.<\/p>\n

Lisa was an eager student. On the final night of class she came with her finalized purpose statement:<\/p>\n

My life purpose is to encourage people and give them hope. I will help them become free from the past.<\/i><\/p>\n

She\u2019d also written out a five-point strategy on how she was going to be the encourager she felt she was called to be\u2014in prison with her fellow-inmates.<\/p>\n

Both Henry and Lisa know they are here to make life better for others. They are giving what they have to give in the place where they are planted.<\/p>\n

They point the way for us:<\/p>\n

— Do we wish we were elsewhere?<\/p>\n

— Do we put off giving ourselves fully until things settle down? When there\u2019s more money in the bank? When we feel stronger? When________?<\/p>\n

Truth is, we don\u2019t know how much time we have left here on earth. We don\u2019t know for sure where we\u2019ll be a year from now. Things could be more calm or more chaotic.<\/p>\n

We must give our Gift<\/a> now.<\/p>\n

– – – – –<\/p>\n

photo credit: Bachir<\/a> (creative commons)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Henry Linder is a 93-year-old shoe cobbler in a tiny town in the Carolinas. He\u2019s an internet sensation right now, even though he doesn\u2019t own a computer. Erik Olsen\u2019s documentary on Henry just won first place in iReport\u2019s Community Choice category. Henry retired from the shoe business in his seventies, Olsen reports. But he returned…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":493,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,15],"tags":[280,277,275,276,279,282,281,278,274,273],"class_list":["post-399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-calling","category-conflict-obstacles","tag-encourage","tag-happy","tag-internet-sensation","tag-ireport","tag-life-purpose","tag-my-core-gift","tag-our-gift","tag-people","tag-prisoner","tag-shoe-cobbler"],"yoast_head":"\nA Shoe Cobbler and a Prisoner Show How to Live Today - On Fire: Finding Your Gift And Using It<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/2013\/05\/17\/a-shoe-cobbler-and-a-prisoner-show-how-to-live-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Shoe Cobbler and a Prisoner Show How to Live Today - On Fire: Finding Your Gift And Using It\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Henry Linder is a 93-year-old shoe cobbler in a tiny town in the Carolinas. He\u2019s an internet sensation right now, even though he doesn\u2019t own a computer. Erik Olsen\u2019s documentary on Henry just won first place in iReport\u2019s Community Choice category. Henry retired from the shoe business in his seventies, Olsen reports. But he returned…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/2013\/05\/17\/a-shoe-cobbler-and-a-prisoner-show-how-to-live-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"On Fire: Finding Your Gift And Using It\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-05-17T17:06:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onfire\/files\/2013\/05\/4778675850_191c120012_Bachir-300x225.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"grose\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Shoe Cobbler and a Prisoner Show How to Live Today - On Fire: Finding Your Gift And Using It","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/2013\/05\/17\/a-shoe-cobbler-and-a-prisoner-show-how-to-live-today\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Shoe Cobbler and a Prisoner Show How to Live Today - On Fire: Finding Your Gift And Using It","og_description":"Henry Linder is a 93-year-old shoe cobbler in a tiny town in the Carolinas. He\u2019s an internet sensation right now, even though he doesn\u2019t own a computer. Erik Olsen\u2019s documentary on Henry just won first place in iReport\u2019s Community Choice category. Henry retired from the shoe business in his seventies, Olsen reports. But he returned…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/2013\/05\/17\/a-shoe-cobbler-and-a-prisoner-show-how-to-live-today\/","og_site_name":"On Fire: Finding Your Gift And Using It","article_published_time":"2013-05-17T17:06:24+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onfire\/files\/2013\/05\/4778675850_191c120012_Bachir-300x225.jpg"}],"author":"grose","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/2013\/05\/17\/a-shoe-cobbler-and-a-prisoner-show-how-to-live-today\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/2013\/05\/17\/a-shoe-cobbler-and-a-prisoner-show-how-to-live-today\/","name":"A Shoe Cobbler and a Prisoner Show How to Live Today - On Fire: Finding Your Gift And Using It","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/2013\/05\/17\/a-shoe-cobbler-and-a-prisoner-show-how-to-live-today\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/2013\/05\/17\/a-shoe-cobbler-and-a-prisoner-show-how-to-live-today\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onfire\/files\/2013\/05\/4778675850_191c120012_Bachir-300x225.jpg","datePublished":"2013-05-17T17:06:24+00:00","dateModified":"2013-05-17T17:06:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/#\/schema\/person\/70a44f42f4bc2a726685f1b85285acba"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/2013\/05\/17\/a-shoe-cobbler-and-a-prisoner-show-how-to-live-today\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/2013\/05\/17\/a-shoe-cobbler-and-a-prisoner-show-how-to-live-today\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/2013\/05\/17\/a-shoe-cobbler-and-a-prisoner-show-how-to-live-today\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onfire\/files\/2013\/05\/4778675850_191c120012_Bachir-300x225.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onfire\/files\/2013\/05\/4778675850_191c120012_Bachir-300x225.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/2013\/05\/17\/a-shoe-cobbler-and-a-prisoner-show-how-to-live-today\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Shoe Cobbler and a Prisoner Show How to Live Today"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/","name":"On Fire: Finding Your Gift And Using It","description":"Beliefnet Voices","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/#\/schema\/person\/70a44f42f4bc2a726685f1b85285acba","name":"grose","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/author\/grose\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/493"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":404,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399\/revisions\/404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}