Remember, as much as things change in the world we live in, Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow!

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8

I have to admit something.  When I opened up the online newspaper and saw that Sear's was announcing the closing of 75 more stores, I felt my heart sink. This particular closure comes on the heels of the liquidation of our beloved Herberger's clothing chain.

 As we lose our identity to the stores we grew up with, the grief can be as debilitating as if we lost someone dear to us. In a sense we have because all of us have memories of shopping experiences with mom and dad to these cherished chain stores.  Whether it was going with dad to the nearby Sear's store to buy the latest Craftsman lawnmower, or going with mom to JC Penney's to buy clothes, shopping became our ritual that kept our family together.

Hearing about these closures can add another layer of grief on top of our other losses. Many of us, I'm sure, have memories of going shopping with those who are no longer among us and having lunch at the food court. 

If you're old enough to remember when many department stores had the sit-down restaurants, you may have memories of sitting across from mom and dad with the big menu in your hand trying to decide what to order. 

As we lose these cherished stores, our hearts sank with a few droplets of tears flowing down our cheeks, remembering those times we took our children to these places with their demands of wanting to go their favorite toy or electronic store.  We remember their nuances whenever we took them shopping, and when our kids have children we try to replicate those experiences by going shopping with them to those same cherished stores.

Sigh...... nothing stays the same.  Though, life as we know it changes, life still goes on. Though we no longer have the K-Marts, Herberger's and many other stores, or the shopping malls,  we must remember that shopping will evolve into new traditions.

In a sense, part of the healing process from our grief is creating a new normal for ourselves. We do this by saying goodbye to the stores we cherished while welcoming new smaller stores who will one day enter into the marketplace to provide the goods and services the others no longer provide.

 In a sense, we're re-inventing the wheel of commerce and our cherished way of life anticipating the creation of new shopping experiences we can enjoy with those we loved.

As much as Amazon has fulfilled the shopping experiences of many, it can never replicate the experience of going to the retail store where we can touch and feel the item we're thinking of buying. It can never replicate the bonding experience of shopping with our loved ones. Shopping continues to be a social experience for all of us because we are social beings- we need to be around others as we fill our shopping cart with the items we need.

Alas, it's okay to grieve for those stores of yesteryear. Cry for all those times you shopped with your deceased child, mom, dad and other close relatives no longer among you.

 As you do, know that life will go on as new stores enter the mainstream to fulfill the emotional bonding that shopping brings to a new generation of American's.

We may never see the likes of K-Mart, Sear's, Herberger's again, but there will be new names that we will one day grow to love equally more!

As we read more about other store closings, I rest on the reality that the Jesus I claimed as my Savior in the Spring of 1974 is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow!!