This morning, for some inexplicable reason, I remembered that in middle school I got a pair of Kaepa shoes.
And if you don’t know why that was a huge deal, like Guess jeans and Polo shirts… you were not in middle school in the mid-80s.
In my head, I ruled out ever having any because I thought they were expensive, and my parents were frugal, and so I didn’t even ask.
I needed new shoes for P.E. that year… but I didn’t NEED Kaepas. I always felt this guilt about asking my parents for things, especially things I didn’t 100% need.
But I salivated over those Kaepa shoes, man.
Then one day I was at Target with my dad, he remembered I had to have some PE shoes, so we walked over to the shoe aisle and just… got some PE shoes at Target.
I remember feeling all meh about it, because I didn’t want Target shoes at all… and I SURE wasn’t gonna let on to my dad that these Target shoes weren’t good enough. I mean, I wanted Kaepas, but I guess I was just waiting for dad to offer? I mean, as if my dad, the most frugal guy in the universe, was just gonna say, Oh no honey, let’s not buy these shoes from Target, LETS GO TO RACQUET AND JOG AND SPEND THREE TIMES AS MUCH ON SHOES.
And so I got Target shoes because I willingly took the Target shoes.
I truly don’t remember the circumstances surrounding how I got the Kaepas. Maybe it was for my birthday, I dunno. I just remember that I had them, and MY LIFE WAS COMPLETE because I felt so fly in my Kaepas with my tight-rolled Guess jeans and a polo shirt with the collar popped…
And you know what? They weren’t even the BASIC Kaepas… I GOT THE KAEPAS WITH THE TEXAS A&M LOGO ON THE BACK, which was, like, the PINNACLE of all the Kaepas in those days.
Yes ma’am.
So this morning as I was talking to God, I was asking for some pretty big things.
I felt a little guilty, like maybe I was being too greedy or maybe should suck it up and settle for an outcome I didn’t really want, because there are a WHOLE LOTTA PEOPLE who don’t have the things I was asking for, after all, and if it’s good enough for them maybe it’s good enough for me too and maybe I should just be content and blah blah blah…
…and God reminded me of the Kaepa story.
See, I could have had the Kaepas all along. I just didn’t ask.
When I think back about my childhood, I had every single thing I ever needed.
And I had most of what I wanted.
To be honest I can’t remember a time that I wanted something and didn’t get it. I don’t remember being told no, when I asked. I don’t remember ever being told no.
This isn’t a prosperity gospel, name-it-and-claim it story.
It’s a story about the nature of a father to care for and provide, and how everything they have overflows to the children they love.
Fathers (GOOD fathers) delight in that stuff.
And if my earthly father, the most frugal guy in the universe, wanted me to have Kaepa shoes, just imagine what my Heavenly Father wants to give to me.
I just might have to trust Him enough to ask.
Leave a Reply