Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

 For the first time in a month we were able to attend church. We weren't allowed to have more than twenty people attend, and we needed to stay the required distance apart and there was no getting together for coffee and fellowship after the service, but nonetheless, we were together and it felt good. As the service ended one of our pastors put on a song that I liked immediately. When I was at the farm so many years ago, one of the things I disliked the most, aside from the length of the meetings, was the songs. It's not that they weren't pleasant enough, I guess I just hated the expectation that we all had to sing. If someone tells me I have to do something, I get my back in the air and plant my feet and pretty much decide that's the thing I don't want to do. I guess I'm pretty rebellious. Anyway, I was listening to the song as everyone else was filing out of the church and was enraptured, first by the tune, and as I listened, by the lyrics. It'

 For reasons unknown, it seems that much of the time that the television is on in our house, it's tuned in to the news. I don't know if it's because misery loves company and we like to feel like our lives are certainly no worse and in many cases better than other peoples or if we just like to stay informed . As you know,almost all news is focused on the current tragedy of the day. We can tune in twenty four hours and be unnerved by what is happening in the world. Usually on the major media outlets there is a feel good story at the end of the program to try and soften all the lousy stuff they've thrown at you for the previous twenty five minutes. Personally I'd like to see a national news program that  only delivered the news of all the good things that have happened in the world. I guess that wouldn't really be news though. We all experience good things;breathing, eating, walking, talking. We just don't think about them. They aren't news to us, i

  Today is Good Friday. It is celebrated in Christianity to mark the day that Jesus Christ died on a Roman cross for all of mankind. Try to imagine, if you will, the night before that fateful day. Jesus had instructed his disciples to make preparations for the Passover dinner. An upper room was prepared and Jesus and his twelve disciples shared  the Passover meal.Afterwards,Judas Iscariot left to meet up with the religious leaders to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. That night, as was his habit, Jesus and his disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus went off a short ways by himself and began to pray, knowing full well what he was about to face. It is said that his sweat became like great drops of blood, so distressed was he by his upcoming trials. His friends who were there to support him fell asleep three times. Because he knew the suffering that was before him, he asked God to spare him, but nonetheless was willing to do his father's will.  Finally, a group

     I don't know about you, but frankly, I'm getting really tired about hearing about Covid 19, or the Corona Virus every time I turn on the TV. Please don't get me wrong, I understand how serious it is or can be. I've never experienced anything in my life that has come even remotely close to changing life as this has. It has impacted everything from when I can buy groceries to how many people I can be in the store with at the same time. My retirement may never recover to the heights that it once was, although to be fair, I'm retired now, so it has less time to grow. We've been wanting to sell the house, but I don't think there are many buyers in this market, so even though we had planned on spending the winter elsewhere next year, that may not be the case.  I've never had more appreciation for the first-responders or the folks who work on the front lines in the hospitals. I pray for them all daily, but with all that said, there is little I can