On more than one occasion someone has said to me, “Robert, you’ve got some mighty big shoes to fill.” I knew what people meant by that, of course, but the fact is I could never fill my father’s shoes -- he wears a size ten-and-half and I wear a size twelve!
Learning how to find and fulfill one’s own calling in life is one of the most important tasks each of us faces in our journey of faith; it’s about learning to “walk in our own shoes.” God created us as unique and significant and he has a purpose in this life for each of us to fulfill.
I recently wrote a book called, “Walking in Your Own Shoes,” which I dedicated to a man named Anthony. Anthony was a farmer who was born at the end of the 19th Century. He wanted to be a preacher when he grew up, but his parents were too poor to send him to school or to college. So he did what his father did – he farmed. But Anthony had a prayer. He prayed that one day he would have a son who would be a preacher. And God answered his prayer and gave him a son. His son’s name was Henry.
Henry was tall and thin and handsome, and Anthony thought Henry was perfect for the ministry, except for one thing – Henry was terrified of speaking in public and wanted nothing to do with the ministry. He didn’t like to talk, he didn’t like to teach; he liked to use his hands and he loved working the farm. It didn’t take long for Anthony to realize that Henry was never going to be a preacher.
Henry and his wife, Jenny, had three more children; they were all girls. Jenny was past her childbearing years, so Anthony thought that was the end of the story. But God didn’t know that. Jenny became pregnant and she had a baby boy. Anthony and Jenny named their baby boy, Robert Harold. Today you know him as Dr. Robert H. Schuller – my father.
Finding your own shoes to walk in is a lifelong conversation mature people have with themselves and God. Personally, I have not yet put a period at the end of that conversation in my own life, and I don’t anticipate doing so. Life is a journey that continues to unfold as long as we live and believe that God created and equipped us to be unique and significant.
Rev. Dr. Robert Anthony Schuller founded Rancho Capistrano Community Church at the Crystal Cathedral’s south campus in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. In 2006, he succeeded his father, Dr. Robert H. Schuller, as the second senior pastor of the Crystal Cathedral Ministries and its internationally televised “Hour of Power” program.
Schuller will be signing copies of his new book at 7 p.m. Thursday at Barnes & Noble in Rockville, Md.
