There’s this little boy named Johnny that hangs out at my house. He is eight years old and he has found a way to single handedly annoy me more and woo me more than any other little kid who wasn’t my own. I love Johnny and I am surprised at just how fond of him I have become.
He is among the bunch of kids that I walk home from the bus stop in the afternoon and I have noticed lately that his shoes seemed to be on a daily path for destruction. It looked as though they had taken another step closer to complete uselessness each day I saw him step off that bus.
Today he got off the bus and I saw that his sock was hanging about three inches out of a hole in the front of his shoe. He made a joke about the hole and the “tongue” his shoe had developed. My heart hurt. I wanted to load him up and buy him a pair of shoes. But I just didn’t have the immediate means.
Later in the day it was proposed by Johnny that I walk the children to the local convenient store and buy them all Icees. For four dollars, I figure its some worth while fun.
I have my kids plus two with me as we cross the busy intersection to get to the store. On the sidewalk right in front of us we saw a pair of brown leather flip flops. The lining was torn slightly, but they were otherwise in perfect condition.
I look around. We are about 100 feet from a shopping strip and at least a block from anybody’s home. These flip flops were clearly abandoned. Johnny grinned at me and only half jokingly said he should try them on.
I didn’t see why not. Turns out, they were a perfect fit. Johnny had a clear look of complete happiness on his face.
“Johnny, I want you to never forget today,” I told him, “Today I hope it was made very clear to you that you are on God’s radar. He knows where you are and what you need.”
“Naw, Miss Amy,” he responded, “It was just a coincidence.”
“No, Johnny. Had it been a coincidence, they would have been two sizes too small and pink.”
Don’t shrug off the flip flops that get put on your sidewalk as coincidence. He knows where you are. He knows what you need.
Somewhere out there is a mother wondering just why her child abandoned his flip flops in the middle of nowhere. I hope she reads blogs.
Sarah S. Chicken says:
Yay for God’s radar!
May 7th, 2008 at 6:38 am
Kim Heinecke says:
Great story. I love the teachable moments like those because kids really remember them. I may have to use that phrase, “God’s radar.”
I wonder if He gives it a cool name like our weathermen do? Doppler 5000 or NextRad…
May 7th, 2008 at 7:34 am
Natalie Witcher says:
I love it when God does fun stuff like that.
I think it might be more like Doppler 1988598374984367094386, cuz he’s that big and all.
May 7th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Robin Meadows says:
What an awesome story by such an awesome girl! I love it that you went so far as to tell him to never forget this day. (and what a testimony to your own children!) It’s like the OT times when they would build altars of remembrance. God is SO good!
May 7th, 2008 at 10:43 am
deleise says:
Beautiful story Amy. I love that God cares about our details.
May 7th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Eric's Wife says:
You know, Robin, sometimes I really do itch to build an altar. Yesterday’s altar would have been made of flip flops..
May 7th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Kristen says:
This is such a great reminder that if we wait, things will happen. God takes care of us, and there is always a lesson learned in trust each and every time.
Great story. Thanks for sharing!
May 7th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Cat says:
no words…just tears. thank you for taking the time to share a story of something so “small” that encapsulates the love of God, in even the very small details of our lives.
May 7th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Lauren says:
This is a great story. Thank you for sharing it with us! God is awesome!!
May 7th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Andi Hawkins says:
That was beautiful. Thank you for inspiring me.
May 9th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
nicole says:
Glad God is working through you and through the flip flops. I love when God makes things just so obvious. I am glad you saw the teachable moment.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:05 pm