The Mystery of the Shoes

One day a pair of old beat-up, dirty men's shoes showed up in our closet, sitting there along with John's other shoes. I thought it was strange but went about doing other tasks and forgot about them. A day or two went by before we both were in the closet at the same time and the conversation of the shoes came up. We each thought the other had put them there, but neither of us had. The mystery of the shoes began.

We were living on our farm at the time, which was about a mile from the Marshall County Jail. Occasionally inmates would be released without a ride back to Marshalltown (10 miles away). They were told not to stop at any house along the way so most walked past on the road. We called the Sheriff's office and told them about the shoes. 

A deputy came and looked at the shoes. John noted that another pair of his shoes was missing. Nothing else in our house was disturbed or missing. We often left the house unlocked while we both were at work. The deputy filed a report but he didn't expect we would find the person who traded shoes. And we never did.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also," (Matthew 6:19-21 NIV).

So the mystery of the shoes remains. Whoever came in, needed the shoes worse than John did. However, we did start locking our door.