Monday, June 15, 2020

Life Review: Another shoe story--or two!

Back in Jan of 2019 I blogged about a pair of loafers I wear still, despite the fact that I won them in a contest in the fall of 1984. Yesterday (late May) I realized the boots I was taking off pre-dated even those shoes.
Yes, these boots were a set of US Army experimental boots that my good friend, and career Army Officer, Charles R, gave me when I visited with him for turkey hunting in the spring of 1984. 
I have used these boots for all sorts of tasks, and most lately for running my chainsaw. Obviously, they have served me well, and not quite done yet.

That brings me to the cheap shoes below. When I realized the age of the boots, I then thought of these slide-on shoes. I am not sure of the exact date, but it was likely the middle 1990's. We were working for 10 weeks in Houston at Johnson Space center and staying with the Scholcoffs in Clear Lake. We had taken the kids on a boat trek into the Houston Ship channel. By chance, we discovered a huge long rope, likely used for hauling barges. This thing was huge and would have cost some towing company a lot of money. 

Daniel, probably David, who were youngsters at the time, and I were dragging the long rope through the water (it was way too big to coil and carry), when a boat and barge came down the ship channel. The wave resulting from the boat and tow was impressive. The wave energy grabbed the long, long rope and pulled it so strongly we could not hang on. I got a terrific rope burn on my lower legs, but the key loss was the old conventional flip-flops I was wearing in the water.

Well, water-proof slide-on shoes are essential around teh beach and pool, so I needed a replacement. These are the replacements from the mid-1990's which i still wear.

As you can tell, the "liner" sole is gone on the left shoe. It became useless just last summer. Both of them have been glued and re-glued. But I still wear them.  Not bad for maybe $3.

In these shoe stories I think of the children of Israel wandering in the desert for 40 years. Deut 29:5 tells us that their sandals didn't wear out, and neither have mine.

Thank you L^rd for things that last...not to be compared with LIFE THAT LASTS through Jesus the Christ.

On yeah, we hauled the rope back, and gave it to Mr. Scholcoff, who seemed to really appreciate it and used it as a decorative safety barrier on his seawall.

No comments:

Post a Comment