car.

Today, I am traveling to Anniston, my hometown, to hopefully pick up my new car. I am currently driving a 1995 Toyota Avalon. It has served me well during my first driving years, but now it is a hazard and a death trap. Over the last month, I have experienced an axle breaking while driving, had my battery and alternator replaced, engine overheated and radiator replaced, flat tire that was unsalvageable, dead battery, and there lies many other things that need to be fixed with it. It is time to move on. 

On another note, I have thought much about the season of Lent that is upon us. I am not really doing anything in particular for it, but I have always been curious about it. What does it actually mean for someone to participate in Lent? I read somewhere that Lent is the season of repenting and dying to one's self. It is supposed to represent the time that Jesus spent in the desert alone for 40 days. 40 days! I can't imagine doing any one thing for 40 days, let alone be by myself and have to abstain and fast and be in contemplative prayer. This is why God is great, and I am not. It is really interesting having social networking sites that update you on people's lives and actions every minute of the day. Many people on facebook have been writing about their Lent sacrifices or decisions. I know that these people aren't doing it for a show, or trying to prove something to the facebook world, but what is their reason behind it? I read Scripture on the beginning day of Lent that said do nothing in public, but spending time in prayer and worshipping God should be done in private. In the context of the verse (I believe it was in Matthew) it was really speaking to what the Pharisees were trying to  do to show that they were pious or especially religious. Every thing they did was just for show on the outside, but many of them were spiritually dead on the inside. I think nowadays, the context for our faith is somewhat different, but the verse can still be applied in some ways. I think most people would agree with me when I say that we shouldn't be motivated to do good things or pious things or abstain from things for the attention of others. What matters is what is inside our hearts and how God has called us to that place. I want to spend this season not avoiding one thing, but avoiding myself. Dying to myself and my most selfish ways. Not the sugar that I consume or the caffeine I am addicted to, but the daily sin that I find myself in every moment of the day. This is what Lent is for me. And I pray that at the end of Lent, at the end of the year, at the end of everyday, God has supplied me with a stronger heart. A heart that is totally reliant on Him, His Son, His Spirit, His grace and forgiveness.