He will hear your faintest cry. . .

Arriving in an unfamiliar city early one cold winter morning, a man got off the train and entered the train station. The station was much like any other station with the crowds milling about--- except that everybody was barefoot. Even the cab driver he hailed was barefoot.

"Pardon me," the man asked his driver, "I was just wondering why you don't wear shoes. Don't you believe in shoes?" "Sure we do," said the driver. "Why don't you wear them?" "Ah, that's the question," came the reply. "Why don't we wear shoes? Why don't we?"

It was the same at the hotel. The clerk, the bell boys, everybody was barefoot. In the coffee shop he noticed a nice-looking fellow at a table opposite him who was also barefoot. He said, "I notice you aren't wearing any shoes. I wonder why? Don't you know about shoes?"

The man replied, "Of course I know about shoes." "Then why don't you wear them?" "Ah, that's the question. Why don't we? Why don't we?"

After breakfast the man walked out on the street in the snow, but every person he saw was barefoot. He asked another man about it, and pointed out how shoes protect feet from the cold. The man said, "We know about shoes. See that building yonder? That is a shoe factory. We are proud of that plant, and every week we gather there to hear the man in charge tell about shoes and how wonderful the are."

"Then why don't you wear shoes?" "Ah, that's the question."

Don't we believe in prayer? Don't we know what it could mean in our lives? Then why don't we pray? Ah, that is the question. Why don't we? (from City of Everywhere, by H.P. Hughes).