Two Pairs of Cowboy Boots

I have only owned two pairs of cowboy boots. Now I have owned dozens of pairs of boots—the working kind. Real cowboys would say to me that their boots are working boots, but I have never wrestled steers or ridden bulls. I do know the difference in bulldogging heels and walking heels. The two pairs of cowboy boots that I have owned have had more of a roper heel which is more like the heel of a normal leather shoe. It is not as tall as the more traditional “bulldogging” or cowboy heel.

Not long after college, I was headed to northern New Mexico to work for the summer, and I traveled the southern route to visit my best friend from college who had joined the army and was stationed in El Paso. I had never visited Mexico, so we enjoyed crossing the border and visiting Juarez. Of course, the times they have changed because I would not visit Juarez during these days.

But in the early 70s, it was a popular tourist destination for US citizens because you could be there in a few minutes from El Paso. One of my objectives was to buy cowboy boots because the quality of the leather and the craftsmanship was good in Mexico, and they were much less expensive. I found the pair that I wanted. When Cheryl first saw them, she said why did you buy orange boots? They weren’t really bright orange, but I admit that they were a subdued shade of orange.

The haggling over the price of the boots was quite an event. The merchant and I could not agree on a price, so I acted uninterested and picked up a guitar and begun strumming. The merchant asked me if I knew the song “More.” At that time I knew most of Andy Williams’ songs by heart because Cheryl and I had listened to a plethora of his songs while dating. I told him that I knew it, and he asked me to sing it  for him. I told him that I would sing it if he would agree on my offer for the boots. He agreed if I would sing the entire song.

I strummed and began singing, “More than the greatest love the world has known. This is the love I give to you alone. More than the simplest words I try to say. I only live to love you more each day.” I got my boots at my price!

Actually, I did not wear those boots much because they were just not as comfortable as my lace-up Wolverine boots. A few years later when we packed our crates for West Africa, I included my cowboy boots because I thought they would be a novelty in Ivory Coast. I wore them a few times and, yes, they got a lot of attention. When we packed up to move back to the states to go to graduate school, I decided to give them away.

Each house in our neighborhood had a guard to “protect” the house. I am sure there was some kind of conspiracy among the guards because all of them slept most of the night while “guarding” our property. Anyhow, I gave my orange boots to our guard, and from that time he was known as the “Midnight Cowboy” (that was the title of a popular movie during that era, and this is not quite as funny as it was 40 years ago!).

While I was visiting with a Chick-fil-A Operator friend in Texas, we were doing some chores on his ranch, and he looked at me and asked, “Do you have any cowboy boots?” I told him the story about the midnight cowboy, and I also told him that the boots never were that comfortable to me. He told me that I just never had any good boots that were the proper fit, and then he said to me, “Get in the truck because I want to take you somewhere.”

The somewhere was a western boot store about 30 minutes from his ranch. As we walked in, my friend told me to pick out a pair of boots, and he wanted to buy them for me. I was so surprised at this generous offer, but I was stunned at the prices of the boots. These were no Juarez-priced boots! My friend encouraged me to try on several pairs until I knew that I had found the right ones. It happened. When I tried on that last pair it felt right and like it was made for my feet. He was right—when you get the right cowboy boots you don’t have to break them in.

During our lives we received a lot of gifts. Something I love about receiving a gift is the joy that the person giving the gift receives when I accept the gift. When I tried on the right pair of boots and exclaimed how great they felt on my feet, my friend’s face showed the joy that he was experiencing with giving me these boots. Giving generously brings joy.

It is not about money. It is about the ALL. Paul emphasized the ALL in 2 Corinthians 9:8 (NIV): “And God is able to make ALL grace abound to you, so that in ALL things at ALL times having ALL that you need you will abound in every good work.”