Who Wrote "Footprints in the Sand"?
"Author Unknown" once asked Jesus why there was only one set of footprints in the sand during life's most perilous moments. Now a federal court on Long Island is trying to decide just whose footprints those were.1
That's how a column in August's edition of Christianity Today launches into a discussion over three women all claiming to have written the poem, "Footprints in the Sand," one of them suing the other two. The poem has risen to sort of an icon of Christianity, has made over $1 million in sales for two of these self-claimed authors, and is found on six pages of products in one Christian gift store catalogue.
This reminded me of several men all claiming to have preached on the day of Spurgeon's conversion. Funny thing, Spurgeon didn't recognize any of them. At the end of the day it really doesn't matter who led Spurgeon to Jesus who or who wrote the iconic poem. In heaven we'll be too busy falling at Jesus' feet in worship and listening to His teaching to care who did what, because at the end of the day, it was God's grace that enabled both!
Endnote
1. Adelle M. Banks, "Whose Footprints?" Christianity Today, August 2008, p. 13.