”We Don’t Have Cell Phone Service”

During some of our recent time away we had the wonderful opportunity and enjoyment of spending some extended family time near Trukee, CA and nearer to Donner Lake. Yes, this is the lake near the site of the place where the Donner Party (or Donner—Reed Party) was stranded during the winter of 1846-1847, snowbound on the east side of the rugged passes over the Sierra Nevada Range and just 100 or so miles from the Pacific Ocean. A monument at the site says that when the party arrived on October 29, 1846 there was 22 feet of snow on the ground – only the tree tops would have been visible. You probably know that tsotry that only 48 of the original 87 members of the party survived and the survivors resorted to cannibalism in order to live until a relief party arrived in the middle of February, 1847, almost four months after the wagon train became trapped.

During our evening meal, around great food with wonderful fellowship, we found ourselves “complaining’ that we didn’t have very good cell phone service. Some of us couldn’t send messages, others couldn’t receive messages and our data links were less than spotty.

Then a comment was made about the Donner party and the story of almost 160 years ago. Our eyes grew big and one of us noted, “So why are we complaining about not having cell phone service?”

It was a good question, a dose of reality and an opportunity for thanks – for all the blessings of God and for the sacrifice of those immigrant pioneers who carved out the beginnings of civilization in these beautiful parts of the United States.

I’m trying to be sure that I don’t take for granted the wonderful blessings of God’s grace that allow me to live a blessed and secure life.