By Bonita Wilborn
When I heard the story of Jonathan Bond, who leads the Chattanooga-based ministry “Extended Arms,” literally praying for God to provide him with socks, and then God answering his prayer beyond his wildest imagination, I couldn’t help thinking of the lyrics to the song, “Prayer Changes Me” recorded by the McKameys. The first verse says, “Lying awake at night, thinking of things beyond my control. Ready to give up the fight, weary and tired of carrying the load. I know there’s nothing more I can do or say, then God says just give it to me. Then I whisper a prayer that only he hears, and I rest peacefully.” No doubt Jonathan Bond was feeling hopeless, as he stood there with only thirty pairs of socks and more than a hundred and thirty requests for socks. How could he decide who would get the few socks that were available.
The second verse of the song says, “Troublesome days seems so long, I can’t help but wonder just when they will end. I know I’m supposed to be strong, but sometimes I don’t think that I’ll ever win. That’s when he tells me you won’t without me, but in my strength alone. And when I began to trust more in him, I can sing a song.” With both those verses printed here for you, I simply can’t leave out the chorus as it brings it all together. Chorus “I can pray out loud, or silently. I can pray standing tall or on my knees. It really makes no difference, just that prayer is the key. Cause prayer changes things and it changes me.”
Our prayers are not always answered immediately and not always within a week as Jonathan Bond’s prayer was, but a mere week after praying to God for the socks they needed at Extended Arms, Jonathan received a call… “Hey, can you use socks?”
Bond explained, “We were handing out clothes about a month ago, and I had about 30 pairs of socks this particular day. We had about 130 people and it seemed like every one of them asked for socks. It was a wet day and when I left there I felt almost defeated because we didn’t have enough socks. I said, ‘God, where can I get a whole bunch of socks?’ God opened the door, a week later we got a call from Mr. Herman and Ms. Carol.”
But where did those socks come from? Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
God knew there was an old abandoned sock mill in Fort Payne, Alabama known as Bailey Knitting Company. God knew that inside that old building were hundreds of thousands of socks about ready to be donated by Tony Hendon, the man who had just bought the building to repurpose as a sports training facility.
After purchasing the old Bailey Knitting Company building, Hendon discovered that lots of socks remained inside. Tony’s father, Rowland Hendon, knew Carol Busby and Herman Johnson, both of Mentone, were part of Bond’s Extended Arms ministry, which serves seven states in the Southeast. The elder Hendon thought of their participation in Extended Arms when he saw the number of socks left over in the old building that his son had purchased. After discussing it, the two men agreed that donating the socks would be the best thing to do. No doubt…a “God Thing”. Even the Hendon pair didn’t realize that there were three million socks left in the building. What an amazing God and what an amazing donation.
While Bond, Busby, and Johnson are all grateful for the gift with so many socks that need paired and packaged before they will be ready to distribute to those in need, they are reaching out to the community for help.
“We can definitely use your help in just pairing them together and getting everything ready,” Bond commented. For more information on all the ways you can help, visit jonathanbond.com or extendedarmsproject.com or call 256-899-2560.
Outside of being the founder and president of Extended Arms Project, that helped 57,000 food challenged people in 2022, Johnathan Bond is also a well-known Southern Gospel singer/songwriter and author. He began singing with two of his cousins in The McClure Trio and later he toured in a trio known as Young Harmony. He’s been serving in full-time ministry since 1995 and was inducted into the North America Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008. He just recorded and released a new duet with Stella Parton called “A Better Place”.
According to Tony Hendon, the plan for the majority of the old Bailey Knitting Company building will be used by Fort Payne Storage Works, which will be climate controlled storage. The back of the building will be a sports training facility with indoor batting cages and different types of sports training for the community.
Representatives with Extended Arms will be in Fort Payne at the old Bailey Knitting Company building on Saturday, April 22, from 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM, working on getting the socks ready to distribute and will welcome the community’s help.