Shoes of Peace

Shoe design by Kobi Levi

Last week I had something happen that reminded me of an incident that occurred when I was 16. An incident that I had not thought of in a long time, but one of those “blessings in disguise incidents” we all have examples of.  

I was reminded about the time when my sister had just bought me a new pair of Keds (yes, it was once cool to wear Keds and I know I’m showing my age with that statement!). The first day I wore them, it was obvious they were brand new and had never been worn since they were the whitest of white. I got through the entire day at school without one scuff mark or smudge of dirt; that is until I accidentally stepped into a huge wad of chewing gum coming out of the school house! I was bummed because I knew it would be easier to kill a fish by drowning it than to try to get the gum off the bottom of my shoe. I scraped off as much as I could but didn’t have time to try to get it all off because I had to go turn in a job application at a store where I was hoping to work.  

One of my best friends from high school rode with me to drop off the application. After doing so, we decided to walk in and look around at one of the neighboring shoe stores. It was one of those discount shoe store chains that did not carry name brands like Keds, but for some reason, thought that it was perfectly okay to falsely accuse me in front of all their patrons of shop lifting a pair of white tennis shoes. I guess since I was wearing REALLY clean, white shoes, the staff (wrongly) assumed that the shoes came from their store (and you know what happens when you ASSUME, right?). 

The accusation happened so fast that I didn’t even realize what was happening at first. When I finally did, God reminded me of the remnants of the bubble gum still on the bottom of my shoe. At that moment my leg shot up in the air like a Radio City Rockette's and I said loudly, “I STEPPED IN GUM!” (I’m laughing out loud as I write this remembering what this scene must have looked and sounded like! Funny now, but not so funny as it was happening to me.) Once they saw the gum and realized that I was wearing a brand of shoes they didn’t even carry, they realized what fools they were to make such an accusation.

It is true that God can take something that seems like a negative and use it for good (Romans 8:28).  There are such things as blessings in disguise. That gum that I was so bummed about being on my shoe ended up being my inarguable defense. God also used that past incident as a reminder to help me gain perspective and just kind of laugh at the situation that occurred last week. God loves us all and always has our back!