Lenten Reflections on My Old Truck

Pastoral Pondering
by Pastor Keith Larson

I had a fun little “last trip” in my little red pick-up. Camp Ewalu has a horse program and owns a couple of horses that need to be fed over the winter. Being a good board member, I found some hay for sale and picked up 11 bales near 0tter Creek. I delivered them to Ewalu and continued on to Elgin. We had a gathering of my brother and sisters and two of our spouses at my parents’ home. It was the first time we had all been there in quite some time. We had a fund day catching up on each other’s lives, and families, reminiscing and celebrating my sister and mother’s birthdays.

The trouble started on the way home. The temperature in my truck started to get colder, the temperature gauge started up, and I was about ready to turn around and head back to the last little town when all of a sudden the gauge started down and the temperature inside got warmer. Fluctuations up and down continued on the way home. I made it to OJ on Sunday morning, went to a Food Pantry board meeting in Elwood on Monday and by the time I got to the mechanic, my exhaust was blue. The mechanic said there was no hope without expensive surgery, or perhaps an engine transplant (head gasket replacement or cracked head). By the time I got back to my garage, a huge blue cloud followed me.

Some people grow attached to pets; some grow attached to clothes; some grow attached to furniture or other possessions. I get attached to my vehicles. My vehicle is an extension of me. I was proud of what I could haul in my pick-up and where I could go with it. A year ago, when the four-wheel drive wasn’t working, I felt helpless. Hauling hay bales on that last trip connected with farming in my roots.

Now I have to look for a different vehicle. It throws my schedule way off kilter, taking time to do that when I already had lots to do. But looking for a different vehicle is also a time to take stock of my life situation. What do I need? What are my resources? What don’t I need to do any longer? What can I do better? What could I do more of?

In a more spiritual, soul-searching way, this is also the task of lent. Lent is when we take stock of our lives. What is going well? What needs improving? What are our resources? What liabilities do we carry? What changes can we make to improve our relationship with God, with others, with our environment?

Tools to help us in this Lenten task include worship and gathering regularly with other Christians during Lent. Be sure to see the schedule for worship in the church newsletter.