Sunday, November 20, 2016

The Rhythm of The White Tennis Shoes


People come in all sizes and styles. There are some who are loud and in your face while others may be quite and observant. From time to time, a person can be still and see the world in a very new and different light. If you are lucky, you may see many different sides to the old and young. On one such occasion, I sat silently on a Sunday morning enjoying the Message being delivered by our Preacher. He was strong and steady with his points and his jokes were funny and made us all rumble with laughter. We had a full house and as many Church families do, we all were on are best behavior in Gods house. We had some extra guest that morning and to our delight they were all musicians. The Church was full of song and young and old alike seemed to be focused on the stage. As they moved to a special singing the uplifting spirit continued. As I looked out over row after row of people a smile came to my face as I saw how everyone was joined together clapping and singing along with the music. They were all belting out the same bluegrass Christian Song as they kept the beat with their hands and feet. As the song was about to end, a pair of white tennis shoes caught my eye. They were in the row ahead of me and were moving quite vigorously keeping the Rhythm of the music in check. As I continued to look up to see the face of the owner of those shoes I discovered a nice surprise in a smiling face. A tear fell to my check. Mr B, a long time member of our church, was at the other end. Mr B was always quiet and reserved. He never talked out of place or made any noise about anything. He had recently been ill and had been recovering from a stroke. He was known for being a faithful Christian who always attended church but rarely sang or ventured towards helping others. He never missed a day at church if the door was open. Little did we all know that our 85 year old Mr B loved Bluegrass Christian music and those white tennis shoes were connected to the boogieing feet that kept him alive.