Walk the Way He Walked

I had to bring my Surface Pro 3 back to the store to be swapped out for a new one ( yes. Sigh. Again). I will be without it for a couple of days so am using my iPad which I love, but is slower and has less features. As long as I was at the mall, I decided I had to get nice shoes that didn't hurt my feet. My daughter is getting married at the end of February and all my nice shoes cause unbearable pain within minutes.

Anyone who has followed my blog for any length of time knows that due to foot issues, I can never find shoes that are pretty and don't hurt. Half the problem is I have narrow feet and few stores carry narrow width. I wandered into a store.

"What are you looking for?" the saleswoman asked me.

"An impossible dream," I said sadly.

"Tell me," she said, "I love challenges.

I was shocked to discover this store specializes in narrow shoes. She had oodles for me to try on and because they were narrow, none of them hurt! They really were pretty and didn't hurt! How could this be!

"This is like walking on clouds!" I cried.

She nodded happily.

"I have so many shoes," I said, "But most I never wear because they hurt my feet."

"You waste time and money on cheaper throwaways," she said, "It pays to spend more, but get the right shoe you will actually wear."

Since it was so comfortable to walk around in the pretty shoes, I chatted at length with the saleswoman as she brought me pair after pair to try on.

Her enthusiasm was infectious. I only needed one pair, but she wanted me to try on all kinds of shoes, just so I could see what a truly comfortable shoe properly fitted felt like. I was there over an hour, walking laps around the store. 

"You love your job, don't you?" I said.

"Yes. But it is especially gratifying when someone who didn't know what a shoe could be puts one on."

As I lapped the store, all three sales associates had gathered around and were listening to my recounting of the rescue of a dying dog that sparked my writing career. I told them I needed comfortable classy shoes for my book signing events. 

"They are a write off then!" they pointed out.

One thing led to another, and soon they were all going to buy my books, and one invited me to her book club to speak. I left feeling like I had made three new friends, and maybe enough sales to pay for the shoes!

Later, I thought about what the saleswoman had said. Her words could easily be applied to following God the way we were designed to do. We were created to be in synch with God, in communion, in fellowship. He had provided a perfect world. It was our choice to leave it through rebellion and sin.

The repercussions have been pain and struggle, like an ill-fitting shoe. We can walk, but not without trauma.

What a sigh of relief we feel when we finally turn from foolish, selfish, sinful ways to repentant submission to our Creator. It is like walking on clouds, which one day, will be our eternity.

I chose one pair, though frankly I wanted several. The saleswoman piled the boxes of the lovely shoes I'd turned down on the counter. 

"I will hold these for you," she said, "In case you decide later you want shoes that don't hurt you. I can't hold them forever, so don't take too long to decide."

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Matthew 11:28-30 

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Colossians 2:6 

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,

1 John 2:5-6 

But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

John 13:34-35   

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 15:7 

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Selfless Love

A friend of mine has volunteered at the Waterfowl rescue for years. She told me a story of an unusual friendship. A male snow goose had befriended a male Canada goose. The two were inseparable. When new goslings would hatch to the other geese couples there, the two buddies would gravitate to the babies and help raise them.  After years of being best buddies, the Canada goose died. That day, the snow goose flew away.

This is a true story. What a beautiful picture of what it means to be a friend, a real friend. Presumably, the snow goose could have left the rescue facility at any time. Obviously whatever was the issue that landed him in the rehab waterfowl center had been resolved. He chose to stay out of love for his friend. When his friend died and no longer needed him, only then did he fly to freedom.

A world is calling us, luring us to selfishness. It is a constant battle to love others sacrificially. As my friend told me about the snow goose, I was humbled, and prayed I could be more like that goose.

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Philippians  2:3-4

3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Digging Deep

I pulled up to the senior home with both kayaks strapped atop the car. I leave them up there since we kayak every chance we get in the summer. My old friends Comer and Evelyn were sitting on the porch waiting for me, beside a sleeping lady with an oxygen tank hooked to her. Comer glanced at the car, and then did a double take when he saw me wave.
As he and Evelyn shuffled slowly over, big smiles on their faces, a concerned aide from the Alzheimer unit came running from the home.
"Where are you taking them?" he asked.
"Kayaking, " I said, nudging my 93 year old friend, "How's that sound, Comer?"
"That sounds fine," he laughed.
"Nah, I'm taking them out for a long awaited steak dinner. Would you like that better?" I asked Evelyn.
"That would be nice!" she said.

The aide patted Evelyn's hand as she settled in my car.
"She's my favorite," he said, "We sing together."
He began singing "Zippety do dah!" and Evelyn eagerly joined in. They hit line 4 and then stopped.
"We never get any further," he said, "We can't remember the words."
"Mr. Bluebirds on my shoulder," I sang, and Evelyn sparkled as she joined in remembering, "It's the truth, it's factual, everything is satisfactual, zippity doo da, zippity aye, wonderful feeling, wonderful day!"
"Wow," said the aide ,"You should volunteer here."

As I got in the car I held up the 50's music CD, "How about some music, Evelyn?"
"I don't like music," she said.
I turned to look at her.
"Don't give me that," I told her, "You love music."
She began singing zippidy doo dah again.

For months, Comer had been telling me how he longed for a steak dinner. Evelyn's condition had been so fragile that I had been hesitant to do anything but take them sightseeing in the car while eating fast food take out. It became our little nugget of ritual hope that when I dropped them off, we would say, "One day we will go to a restaurant and have a real steak dinner!"

So today I had planned a half hour drive to Lake Wylie to a restaurant on the water. We would eat on the outside patio deck right on the sparkling lake, with ducks trolling for food next to us. The restaurant specialized in TBone steaks. I had called ahead to be sure they could serve us quickly as my old friends could not be out too long without great fatigue.

As we sat down, Evelyn was beaming the entire time. She looked happily at the ducks next to the dock. The waitress bought the menus and I told them, "The print is pretty fine, but I can read to you the steak choices."
"I don't believe I will have steak," said Comer.
I blinked at him.
"How about you, Evelyn? Would you like to hear the steak choices?"
"She doesn't like steak," said Comer.
"I want the chicken club," said Evelyn.

As we ate, Comer was recounting some of the jobs he had held in his life.
"Do you know Olan MIlls?" he asked.
Everyone knows Olan Mills. They are probably the most famous portrait studio in the nation. They are everywhere.
"I worked for Olan," he said, "Before he ever had a store even."
"The person Olan?!" I exclaimed.
"Yep, me and one other guy were his first sales crew in Alabama."
"OH my! What else did you do?"
"I was a Golden Glove boxer. Pretty good in my area. Do you know Rocky Marciano?"
"No.... I think I have heard of him."
"Greatest boxer of his time. They tried to set me up to fight him, but I said no way."
"Like the Rocky movie!" I said, laughing.
"But I made the most money playing poker."
"Poker?"
"Yes. When I was in the army I won $50-$60,000 playing poker. The FBI came out and put a $2500 cap on our games when they got wind of it."
"Evelyn, did you know he was a gambler?"
She smiled nodding, "Yes, a gambler....."
"Did you ever get in trouble....?"
"Oh, I never did anything wrong.Once," said Comer, "When the war was over and we were on the train coming home, we were having a big celebration, playing poker. One soldier kept winning time after time. And then we caught him cheating. So I picked that soldier up and I threw him off the train."
"You just said you never did anything wrong!!! You threw someone off a train!?"
"I mean, I never did anything criminal."
"Throwing someone off a train!"
"Well, it wasn't going very fast...."
"Evelyn, did you know Comer threw someone off a train?"
She smiled and chuckled, " Oh dear...."
"So what attracted you to him in the first place," I asked, "This gambler who threw people off trains?"
"He was......weird," she said, struggling for the right word.
"I quit gambling then," said Comer, "By the time I knew her. But we both played poker. She is a great blackjack player."
Evelyn nodded, giggling, "Yes, black jack."

As we drove home after dropping our friends back at their Senior Home, Asherel and I were discussing the various events she could choose from for next year's Science Olympiad.
"In the end," I told her, "It doesn't really matter which event you choose. If you go deeply enough into any subject, you will be fascinated. It is only when we do overviews, surface understanding that things are boring."
And I realized that the relationship we have developed with Comer and Evelyn is becoming likewise more fascinating each day we see them. The layers of their lives that they slowly reveal always surprise, always amaze, and always entertain. What a colorful kaleidoscope of living history my old friends are!

We also prayed together for dear sister Amy, lanquishing for week number two in the hospital with her second bout of pancreatitis in a month. News had seemed so dire, so depressing the day before and Amy seemed so down and discouraged. When we got back, I called her. The doc had been in and not only had she been moved from ice chip diet to a liquid diet with jello and italian ices, but the doc felt she would be able to go home, maybe very soon. He felt that in all likelihood, the cyst on her pancreas was best left alone for now, and any procedure could likely wait for a few weeks. He felt there was little danger to her, and gave a tentative clearing of her hopeful plans to still attend my son's wedding in July. And she was bubbly happy with a beautiful bouquet that same son, Matt, and his fiancee Karissa had sent to her cheerless hospital room.

I know many many friends have been praying for her, and my heart is so warmed by the outpouring of love and concern. Another sweet friend will be taking Asherel to her home on the afternoons I will be in Texas helping Amy. And my folks offered money to fly Asherel out if that was better for me.

In my Bible reading that morning, I came across one of my favorite verses, Philippians 4:13. It captured my day perfectly:
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."