Last year I shared a story with you about a mother and her two boys; this year a young 12 year old boy has already touched my heart. His name is Garson.
The first time that I met Garson was not at our children’s program but at church service on Wednesday evening. As soon as I came into service I was greeted by Genesis and Jenifer. They ushered me to the front of the church where I sat down and that’s when I met Garson along with many other children. He sat there and as soon as I saw him I said ‘hola’ and the smile he gave was huge. Throughout service he kept looking at me with his big smile. It was hard paying attention to Marshall Poe’s sermon while I was sitting with so many of the children. I know I was paying more attention to them, but we sure had fun.
That’s when I noticed Garson’s shoes. They were old dress shoe style however, they have no laces and his shoes were literally coming apart. From one side of the shoe, around the toes to the other middle side of his shoe was all open. It was totally apart and all I could see was his socks. He noticed that I was looking at his shoes (or lack of) and I was embarrassed that he caught me. He smiled at me, cocked his head sideways and just shrugged. When I looked into his eyes it was if he was telling me ‘it’s okay’. My heart sank. This isn’t okay.
My mind started racing; what can I do. I knew we brought down a few shoes for both kids and adults. How can I figure out if we have a pair of shoes for Garson? It came to me; I took off my sandals during service and started to wiggle my toes. The two girls who ushered me in caught on really fast. They took off their sandals and started to follow suit. Garson was watching. After a while, I moved my foot towards Genesis and Jenifer’s foot and started to compare my foot beside theirs. We started to measure the size of my foot to theirs. Garson watched. The girls and I giggled as we saw how big my foot was compared to theirs. I motioned to Garson if he wanted to join us and he did. Mission accomplished. We compared our foot sizes and I noticed we were pretty much the same size and I immediately remembered that Melanie had a pair of sandals, boys size 4, that she brought down. I was getting excited because I knew in my heart they would fit Garson. I knew then that those sandals were for him.
I talked to Melanie after service. She brought out the sandals, I slipped them on my feet and they did fit. Again, my heart said ‘those shoes are meant for Garson’. The following day after the children’s program I pulled Garson over to the side when most of the kids were gone. We were alone with Elsie. I noticed that his shoes today were closed up and no socks were shown. I asked Garson if he had different shoes today. Garson advised no they were the same shoes however he got glue put on his shoes to enclose his toes. I pulled out the sandals and his eyes got wide. I slipped off his old, rugged, worn-out shoe off his foot. I slipped this new sandal over his socks and I closed the Velcro. Perfect fit. I knew it. It still gave him at least half an inch for growth. I did the same thing with his other foot. He just stared at me. I asked him if he liked the sandals and he said yes. I said to him, they are yours. His eyes shone and that huge smile came back onto his face. He hugged me and thanked me. I took his worn out shoes and placed them into a bag and handed them back to Garson. Mission accomplished. One small miracle just occurred. I took his hand and we had to find Melanie to show her how wonderfully those sandals looked and fit on Garson.
It is amazing how God works in all of us. If it wasn’t for those girls taking me over to Garson I may never had noticed his shoes since we have approximately 90 children in the program…… things occur for a reason as God works…. This situation was meant to be.
Here are some pictures from the day (click any photo for a larger version):
See more photos of the team from this day in this Facebook photo album
Hi Bud!
Great story, thanks for sharing. I am thinking about you and everyone there!. You are such a kind person. Say hi to Paul and Josh for me!. Love ya.
This is awesome. These sandals just appeared out of nowhere when I was looking for items to send with Melanie. They were not what I was looking for. But I knew they had to go. I love the way God works!
Those sandals were sent down by my friend, Louise. So neat how it turned out!
The kids are so cute there,and Cathy you have a huge heart and God knows your heart so this was a perfect situation for God to use you.
So moved by this story….thanks for sharing! Will keep praying.
Think of all the shoes we throw away because they are slightly worn out, or not very comfy anymore, or out of style. Cathy, your story is yet another reminder of how wealthy we are in Canada.
Brought tears to my eyes. Thanks Cathy for sharing this story. Praying for you all!