90 seconds later, cold sweat had miraculously been replaced with a single affirmation: "I will improvise"

The next morning, I began my speech: "You might be wondering why I am wearing running shoes today. Well, it's about this petition here. When I'm done speaking, I'll be running door to door and I want every one of you to come running with me, too."

It was not speech I had come to deliver, but it worked just as well. Better, in fact. My little "goof-up" became a clever demonstration of action speaking louder than words.

Shoe lesson number two. When you forget your shoes, improvise.

My brother was getting married. We had just witnessed signing of papers at their house, and they were rushing over to another place for the ceremony. Don't ask!

As we locked up their house, my wife's sandal broke. She tried walking in it, but to no avail. So off to nearest shoe store we flew – figuratively, that is. This is not another story about losing shoes hundreds or thousands of feet above a desert or a traffic jam.

We knew they would wait for us before starting ceremony. What we did not know is how long they would wait.

That day, my wife performed a miracle that no other woman has done before or since. She went into store and came out just five minutes later with perfect pair of sandals – smashing to smithereens old woman-shopping-for-shoes Olympic record!

Shoe lesson number three. If you break your shoes, improvise.

Perhaps most important lesson here is that, contrary to popular belief, shoe does not make man (or woman). But lack of shoes sure can build character.

And it gives us a great opportunity to improvise.

Spammers also waste emails on replacing body parts we never had and enhancing body parts we could never have, when what we really want is to know God better.

Here is a typical spammer email: "Hair loss? We just released miracle cure. Grow your hair back thicker than a wooly mammoth preparing for next ice age. This is worth a gazillion dollars, but you get it free for just pennies a day. Give me your credit card number before midnight tonight. I can't afford to offer this price for long. Beware phony products that drip funny colors in your face or make hair grow in all wrong places. This is real thing!"

Instead, spammers should be saying: "Faithless? Book your luncheon with Pope, dinner with Dalai Lama and a one-on-one chat with Moses. Reserve your seat free for just a handful of pennies. Give me your credit card number before midnight tonight. Act now. I can't afford to offer this price for long. Beware phony reservations for meetings with Michael Jackson and other fake gods. This is real thing!"

By way, Mother Nature was also a part of many definitions of happiness. So take your family down by river for a prayer. And if you can lend a helping hand to a chipmunk or a duck, you'll be perfect definition of happiness.