It never fails to amaze me how God is a part of everything and everything truly does have meaning and purpose....EVERYTHING. I don't even think I can actually explain that to where it makes sense but I believe with all my heart that everything happens for a reason.
It amazes me that God can turn a size 13 shoe into a lasting friendship. It sounds funny but it's true. We have a friend that we met at Austin Street Shelter about a year ago that recently got off the streets and into his very own apartment. He sent me an email telling me he had his new apartment and that he was going to invite Scottie and I over for dinner but he didn't have furniture yet so it would be a while. When I got the email I sent an email to our church letting them know the situation and asked for furniture, dishes, towels, and whatever else they had to go into a "home". They responded like crazy and he now has basically everything he needs to live comfortably in his new home.
As cool as that is that's not even the cool part of the story. The cool part is looking back and seeing God at work. Seeing how he crossed our paths months ago and created a friendship from a parir of shoes.
This is how it started....
His name is Michael and we met at Austin St. when we were passing out random things to the guys out there. Michael was very quiet and shy and had a child like smile. He didn't just smile with his mouth he smiled with his eyes. He was always grateful for us coming out and very very polite. After months of us going out to the shelter he came up to me and asked if we had a size 13 shoe. We didn't have that size at the time but I told him I would look for some. So every time we went out there he would ask if we had found a size 13 shoe yet and I would joke with him about how big his foot was and it would take us a while to find a shoe that big.
Scottie and I went to Church Under the Bridge in Waco with a few people from church one weekend and a guy that was scheming money off of people using a floppy shoe came up to one of the teenagers from church and asked for 5 bucks so he could buy a pair of shoes. Josh, the teenager from church has the biggest softest heart ever and he asked what size shoe he needed. The guy said 13, and that happened to be the size shoe Josh wore. Josh took his shoes off and gave them to this guy. Awesome story I know, but like I said the guy was scheming. He took the shoes off of Josh's feet and put them in his bag. He didn't even put the shoes on. He put them in his bag right in front of us. His floppy shoes were his money maker and the day was early, he couldn't put the shoes on.... he was working the crowd.
I couldn't believe what just happened, he totally just played Josh. I told Scottie what happened and he and Adam went to Wal-Mart down the street and bought Josh a new pair of shoes since it was cold outside and Josh was standing in the cold with socks on.
I kept my eye on the guy and watched as he went from person to person flopping his shoe and giving them the same song and dance he gave Josh. I waited until the service was over and I went over to the guy and sat down next to him and looked him in the eye and asked if he was going to put those shoes on knowing he had no intention to put those shoes on. They were going to be sold by the end of the day. He laughed when I asked. I told him I would buy the shoes back from him for 5 bucks (the original amount of money he was asking for) and he said without hesitation....10. I said 5 bucks....he said 7. I looked at him raised my eyebrows and said I'll buy the shoes for 5 dollars. It was a deal. I gave him 5 bucks and got Josh's shoes back. I went to go find Josh and trade him his shoes for the shoes Scottie and Adam had just bought at Wal-Mart. I made the trade and Finally....I had a size 13 shoe for Mr. Michael.
The very next time we saw Michael I gave him his very new pair of size 13 shoes and told him God definitely wanted him to have these shoes!!! It brought tears to his eyes that day and we went to the side of the truck and prayed for the first time together. We prayed for a job he was trying to get and for him to get off the streets.
About two or three weeks later he came up to me telling me he got the job. About 2 or 3 months after he got the job I got the email saying he got an apartment and was off the streets!
A week ago we went and surprised him with lots of stuff for his house. We just kept bring stuff up to his apartment. It was awesome! He just stood there speechless as I was putting his new dished in his bear cabinets. After all the dishes were put away, all the food was in the pantry and all of the boxes of towels and sheets and blankets were unpacked he stood there and just looked around. You could see the disbelief on his face. He said "I don't know what to say" as tears filled his eyes. He walked out of the room without saying anything and went into the bathroom to wipe his eyes.
This was Michael's pantry when we got there.
This was the pantry when we left :)
When he came back out we reassured him he didn't need to say anything. This was all God's doings, we just delivered it for Him. I couldn't stop smiling. I was so thankful to be a part of this story, thankful for this friendship and thankful for that pair of size 13 shoes.
We all held hands, Michael, Scottie, Cheyenne and I, in his living room and we prayed. We thanked God for the day, the breath he had given us, the apartment, the friendship and the way He crossed our paths to make a beautiful part of the bigger picture.
Scottie, Cheyenne, Roxy, Michael and Britney
Through trials and tribulations there are rainbows after the storm. If you are in the storm right now I pray for you to hold on to your faith. If you're just coming out of one I pray for you to open your eyes, your mind and your heart and wait for the rainbow.
How you treat people today makes a difference for a lifetime. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Britney and Scottie
