Validated, not Godforsaken

After leaving Badlands National Park, we entered Wall, South Dakota, home of the famous Wall Drugs which extends from one side of a main street block to the other, filled with every sort of trinket, burger, art piece, and toiletry one could imagine finding in South Dakota:

I never imagined being able to shop until I drop in South Dakota, but Wall Drugs make this a very real possibility.  It's a fun place to spend a few hours, enjoying a Buffalo burger with a glass of wine (red, of course), and browsing to my heart's content (and my foot's fatigue).   Barry may not have been as enthused as I about Wall Drug, but he can frequently be talked into indulging his wife:

While the shopping is fun and the food is good, my favorite part of Wall Drug is the history behind its success.   Dorothy and Ted Hustead opened Wall Drug in the 1930's and for years, operated it as a tiny, struggling pharmacy serving the very few and very poor residents of Wall, South Dakota in the middle of the Great Depression.   Regardless of the dismal prospects for success, Ted and Dorothy remained committed to a place and a business to which they felt God had called them.  Their family and friends, however, greatly disagreed, dismissing Wall as Godforsaken.  

Despite being surrounded by naysayers, Ted and Dorothy remained in Wall, living out a five year commitment to see what God had in store for them.   One hot and weary summer day, nearing the end of this five year commitment, Dorothy had an idea.   Why not advertise "Free Ice Water" along the highway to entice tired, hot drivers to stop by for awhile and partake in refreshment?  No other prospect for the survival of the business was available, so they set themselves to the task of making the very first Wall Drug billboards along the nearby highway.  

To make a long story short, the idea took off like wildfire and by the start of the twenty-first century, the greatly expanded Wall Drug sees as many as 20,000 visitors on a hot summer day.  The billboards across South Dakota advertising Wall Drug number almost that many.  

Wall is a wonderful testimony to the fact that no matter what it looks like, no matter how long the wait, no matter how frequent the suffering, no matter how tough the struggle... no place, not even the University of Washington campus or South Dakota or West Texas or even the litter box, is Godforsaken.  

Looks like God covered all His bases, Again.