Dress Barn

One of my wife's favorite places to shop is Dress Barn.  The first Dress Barn was opened in 1962 in Stamford, Connecticut.  There are now over 800 locations in the U.S.

We live in a small town in rural Arkansas with limited shopping opportunities.  When we do go shopping we make a day of it and travel to either Fort Smith or Hot Springs which are both over 80 miles away.  When we make these shopping trips my wife likes to stop at Dress Barn.  I enjoy not going in to the store and instead like to sit in the car in the parking lot.

One day while I was sitting in the parking lot, I took a photo of the Dress Barn Store and posted it to Facebook and said, I'm at my favorite place - The Dress Barn Parking Lot.  I received many likes and comments.  It became expected for me to comment on my favorite thing.  Comments such as, "who needs the NFL playoff games when you have the Dress Barn parking lot" and "no place I would rather be than the Dress Barn parking lot.

Last fall we attended our 40th high school reunion.  While we were visiting with old friends, they insisted that we go to the Dress Barn and take photos.  We really didn't have time but we did it.

When we are travelling I make sure to stop by any Dress Barns that we come across.  This year I have been to Dress Barn parking lots in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Colorado and Oregon.  My dear wife puts up with my little obsession even though many of the Dress Barns we have stopped at she hasn't even been inside.  During a recent visit to Oregon I stopped at three Dress Barns but she didn't shop at any of them.

While in Oregon we stayed at Glenedon Beach near Lincoln City.  I had several Facebook friends point out that there was a Dress Barn in Lincoln City.  I posted a beautiful sunrise photo and got the comment, "What, no Dress Barn in the proximity?!?!"

How many Dress Barn parking lots will I eventually visit?  I don't know. With over 800 locations I will be kept busy for a long time.

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Where Was God?

There are times when it feels like the promises contained in the Bible have a hollow ring to them.  There are times when the promises seem detached and distant. The tragic deaths on Friday morning in Newtown, Connecticut was one of those times.  Where was God when so many innocent lives were ended?  

Gov. Mike Huckabee claimed we should not be surprised to see this kind of violence since we have removed God from our schools and our society. His sentiment is to say, “God is NOT here.” If that is the case, then it surely can explain the existence of pure evil that we saw displayed on Friday.  I cannot believe that God is so weak.  The God I believe in is a powerful God, but I still have to ask why.  As I attended my grand daughters Christmas program on Saturday my thoughts drifted away from the story of the birth of Jesus and the precious angel in the play to the tragedy in Connecticut.  Why did these precious lives have to end? 

There are many events that have caused people to ask, "why". I don't have the answers as to why so many tragedies happen. I do know that ever since sin came into this world through Satan there have been terrible tragedies. I am sure that Adam and Eve asked "why" when Cain killed his brother Abel.

The only promise that a Christian has in this life is that there will be trouble. Our trouble free existence will be in Heaven where God will wipe away all tears.

When a tragedy happens, God says ask your questions, but don't stop there. God has given a much greater opportunity. God challenges us to turn to Him for answers. God challenges us to argue with Him. God challenges us to trust Him explicitly.

Bad things happen in this world, to good people, and to bad people, although it seems like the good people get the worst. Murphy's law seems to be all too true. Why do bad things happen to good people? More specifically, why do bad things happen to me? God rarely answers that question. He would pour out only goodness on us all the time, if He could, but because we live in a sinful world, He can't. Men have free will, and God will not override it.




Why do bad things happen to good people? Because we live in a sinful world. I know that's not the kind of answer we like, but there is no better answer available.  That is why I'm looking forward to a better place.  I'm looking forward to a time when  "God will wipe away all tears from our eyes; and there will be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither will there be any more pain".  Revelation 21:4