Jolly Rancher

I know it has been awhile since my last update, but I'm pretty sure the only person who has read this is me so I'm not too worried. Anyways, I thought I would update the blog with some columns I wrote for the Burleson Star. Here is the first one. Hope you enjoy.

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When I was younger, I thought the world was a simple place. If I had $5, I knew where it was going…straight to the gas station to buy me an ungodly amount of Jolly Ranchers.

Needless to say, after graduating college and getting married, my priorities have changed. Not about the Jolly Ranchers, they still are and always will hold a very special place in my heart. However, I have noticed some other significant changes in my thinking.

I have been married for nine months now and while I know that is not a long time, it has changed me. I love my wife, Sarah, and I would do anything for her. I would even (and I know this is crazy) share my Jolly Ranchers with her. I have discovered how lucky I am to have all the things I have.

In a not-so-great economy, my wife and I have jobs. I have a loving family and in-laws that like me. I even have a movie theatre right across the street from where I live (proof that God likes me). Sarah and I don’t have a lot of money. We aren’t working on buying our fifth yacht or anything, but we have enough. We are happy.

It is a really great feeling to be able to look at your life and be happy with what you have. I don’t have a lot, but I have enough. I would like to have more, sure, but who wouldn’t?

I see people whining about what they don’t have all the time and even I fall prey to the materialistic wants of the world. But most of us are doing pretty good. I ate lunch with a Sudanese family that attends my church last week and they are some of the happiest, friendliest people I have ever met. These are people who carried two children across a desert while being hunted by soldiers who thought of them as nothing more than a pest problem that needed to be exterminated.

They made it to America and live in a small apartment with a family of nine. The father works nights at a factory loading heavy equipment into trucks and the mother irons other people’s clothes all day. But every time I see them, they are smiling. They know how lucky they are to have what they have, which isn’t much.

And here I am, grumpy because I can’t go out and buy the new DVD that came out this week because I already blew my money on a 100-gallon tub of Jolly Ranchers. Let’s all take a cue from my Sudanese friends and find the happiness with what we have in our lives. Enjoy the Jolly Ranchers in your life.