“but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 ESV
Happy 91st Birthday dad. Your first in Heaven. I see you wearing your shoes of gold and running through fields with your dog, King, who you loved as a little boy and would talk about every now and then. I see you laughing and running and jumping and perpetually worshipping the King in a non-stop state of joy and love.
I have seldom told this story because emotions emerge that cause me to be embarrassed. The story of a little boy who desperately wanted a pair of Converse Chuck Taylor gym shoes, to be like the other boys at school. The story of a dad, laid off from his job as an electrician in the mid-1970’s carefully managing the household’s money. The story of a single-car family, whose mom had picked up an outside job to help financially, leaving dad at home with me on a very special day whose date I do not remember but gifted me with a memory of you, dad, that I will forever cherish.
Typically dad would fill his days when laid-off with projects and work around the house. We kids would always be careful during these days to not say “I’m bored” because dad would always have chores and projects to help us to be ‘not bored.’ This particular day dad apparently had some spare time. I remember needing new gym shoes and telling, asking, pleading with dad to have some new Chuck Taylor’s. And to my absolute surprise, he said “let’s go to Goldman’s,” a discount retail store, long gone, long remembered.
I couldn’t believe it! Dad was taking time to walk with me to the store to ‘look for shoes.’ Now the walk from our house to Goldman’s was probably no more than a half a mile but in the adventuresome eyes of a young boy, the journey was easily 10 miles. A trek that would take us down the massive hill of Coachman Drive, over the treacherous river of Route 48, beside the mountains of new construction of the Chevy Chase apartments and non-developed fields surely filled with wild animals where houses, apartments and businesses now sit. Risky? No, because I was walking with my dad whose hands were iron, whose strength unmatched and whose heart laid bare this special day.
For whatever reason I vividly remember the walk and holding dad’s hand. As we walked, the subject turned to Heaven and what it must be like. I remember the gift of that day as dad described Heaven in terms and ways that a young boy could understand. Streets of gold. Never being tired. Running through fields. Laughing. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Eternal life where you could fall and not scrape a knee. An eternity with God and a never-ending desire to worship him. Then, there we were. Goldman’s to ‘look at’ shoes.
I don’t think that Goldman’s had Chuck Taylor’s but what it did have that day was my dad and me and some gold Chuck Taylor knock-offs that fit my feet and would make me run faster. They were $1.98 and caused my dad to contemplate for a moment their purchase. Then he looked in my eyes and said, “do you want to wear them home?” Heavenly bells went off, worship ensued, laughter invaded and the love of a father to his son shown forth.
The gold gym shoes are long gone. The golden memory of a very special day present and everlasting. The gift of the shoes pale in comparison to the gift of time and the uninterrupted presence of my dad. The lesson of the day since revealed as an understanding of the omnipresence of my Heavenly Father, always beside me, always walking with me, always holding the hand of a curious and often scared little boy in the body of a growing older man. The gift my dad gave me that day was the gift of joy that comes through seemingly small acts that are giant assurance to those receiving.
Happy birthday in Heaven dad. I miss you. Enjoy your shoes of gold as you walk those streets of gold. I love you.
“The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass. I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” Revelation 21:21-22