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February 19, 2007
Lent Comes a Little Early
The picture above is the last artsy photo I took with my camera. In fact, I took only two more pictures, period, after this one (of a colleague getting some Valentine's Day flowers). Alas, the camera I often described as promiscuous has gone like Gomer. Hosea-like I have made some efforts for her recovery, but it is not looking promising.
At the beginning of a road trip on Thursday, whilst picking up a friend, I hopped out of the passenger seat of a two door car and placed my camera bag and a bag of muffins on top of the car. Rather too eagerly and quickly I hopped in the back seat, yes, forgetting to take what I had recently deposited on the roof. At our next stop to meet more friends, I asked "Hey, where are the muffins?" followed in short order by "Hey, where's my camera bag?" After several fruitless trips of retracing our route, we finally saw some birds rather eagerly pecking at a plastic bag, flattened on the road. Mmm, muffins. Sadly, the black camera bag was nowhere to be found. A passerby had said that they had seen it, however, so we scribbled some notes (offering a reward even) and headed off for our trip about an hour and a half late.
I am praying still for a miracle (and you can rejoice with me when it happens), but if it does not and even if it does, I think I will go ahead and consider this as a part of Lent. I still have not figured out if I am going to do anything else in that regard or even what I think of Lent itself, but we shall see.
Do you all have any thoughts on Lent? Are there any things you are considering giving up (like the cigarettes above pressed into the cold, purifying snow), things which you are willing to share?
Oh, yeah, and the road trip? More on that later. Our time at our destination was great, but on a road trip with friends with silly and challenging things to talk about, road trip food, fun with snow and cell phones, and music for the interludes, well, the journey is of a piece with the destination.
Church Life and Theology | By jackdas | 8:50 AM
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Comments
I'm sorry. Sad :( I’ll be praying for your camera miracle.
Posted by: Heidi Vincent at February 19, 2007 10:59 AM
I'd never really thought much about Lent or heard anyone talk about it much until we moved to St. Louis! "When in Rome. . . ."
I gave up sugar for Lent last year and may do it again this year. My motives are not pure, as they are partly self-helpish, so I'm glad God isn't a legalist... he accepts my imperfect offerings, too.
Sorry about your camera.
Posted by: Renae at February 19, 2007 1:05 PM
:(
Posted by: Heidi H. at February 20, 2007 12:14 PM
I am praying for you and your miracle. We all share in your loss.
Posted by: Daniel Slater at February 20, 2007 12:18 PM
Renae, upon reflection, the question I asked regarding what people might be giving up for Lent I now beleive to be ill-advised. I, too, generally used to think of giving up things that would benefit me somehow in the long run. I am coming to see that Lent is really a season of fasting, so really the things we give up should be between us and the Lord and we should wash our faces and oil our hair and outwardly just go about things as regularly, though, if I did the latter people would know something is up.
Posted by: Neil E. Das at February 20, 2007 12:26 PM
sadness about the camera. the road trip was quite fun, though, and I would have to agree that the journey was a significant part of the weekend.
Posted by: meg at February 20, 2007 1:20 PM
Ooh, good point, Neil.
And, yes, if I oiled my hair it would just look like I needed a good shower, eh?
Posted by: Renae at February 20, 2007 10:23 PM
