Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

                      Jan and I went shopping at the beginning of the week. We wanted to fill a couple of boxes for Samaritan's Purse's Operation Christmas Child. It's an annual event designed to send boxes overseas to various countries to children who normally would never celebrate Christmas. It's an opportunity to share some of the blessings that we've enjoyed because we were fortunate enough to be born in this country. There is a list of suggested items to send, and there are also labels designating the gender of the child and the general age group. I chose the ten to fourteen year old group because I think they have a tendency to be neglected. I believe a lot of people want to buy something for the little kids, which is great also, but regardless of your age, it's nice to be remembered. We bought everything we needed at Wal-Mart. They have pretty good prices and a decent selection. We both bought an assortment of schoo...

 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...

 This Thursday will be Thanksgiving. It's hard to believe that it's that time of year again already. I was listening to several Christian broadcasts on Sunday, and of course the theme was on giving thanks, which is always appropriate, but seems to take center stage during the week of Thanksgiving. I believe it was Dr. Charles Stanley who mentioned that when we thank God in every situation, even when we don't really feel thankful, just the act of thanking God can bring about a change in our attitude, and sometimes even in our circumstances. For the past few weeks I've had gratitude on my mind. I'm a fairly negative person by nature. I can find the worst in just about any situation. If I catch a lot of fish I can start feeling unhappy because I have to clean them all. If I should make a good bit of money on my catch, then I have to pay more in taxes. With that kind of attitude, it's hard to win at all in anything. However, as I mentioned, I've been thinkin...