Saturday, October 23

Affording the Past

A rainy morning goose chase to the downtown Farmer's Market yielded
a quick ten minutes of realizing this wasn't your regular fare Flea
Market as advertised in the newspaper a few days ago. I wasn't looking
for Asian vegetables and 40 different varieties of fish. I was looking
for the old, crusty, vintage STUFF most people call junk.

It's the Grandma Skinner 'buy it cheap' and 'buy it if it might be worth
something someday' and 'boy, that's cute' gene. They're right: It's usually
junk to me, too. So I look for the esoteric, the hobby-connected, or "I'm
going to the Paso Gathering - might need a western belt buckle" items.

Today's fare included looking through another grandmother's stuff. Estate
pickings. San Francisco addressees. Lots of kitchen, old books, knick-
knack items. And they were pretty much giving the stuff away, so I picked
up two books by John Skinner, Scottish Episcopal Church defender of the faith,
for $1.00. Add value in the author's name (same as mine, of course)
and the 1788 publishing date for one of them. They'll look nice in my relic
laden living room for awhile.

Later went to a local Mustang Car Show with my neighbor. My first visit.
Lots of restored cars, along with a few mid 60's Falcons, a Shelby Cobra and a dragster.



This is a picture of the compact and muscular Cobra. Not my choice if I
had choices. But I was shocked to see an old Sunbeam Tiger all fixed up.



Hadn't seen one in years, and it brought back the old college days in El
Paso. My best friend had a Sunbeam Alpine that we terrorized the streets
with. A real little sports car, for sure. It lost its appeal when we drove
it to California once. What a ride! Sardines in the sardine can, loaded
hand gun in the glove box, and zipping across the desert like a little bug
on the asphalt.

Value is placed on everything we see. We're connoisseurs of all, weighing
things by past and present experience, what we've been told and believe,
and hopefully and most importantly by what God says about it. "Vanity of
vanities, all is vanity," said the ancient king. Solomon had it all, saw
it all and did it all, yet pronounced the things of this world as passing,
unfulfilling and not worth getting worked up about, especially since you
came in naked and will leave with nothing as well.

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If anyone
loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in
the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life, is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing
away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever."
I John 2:15-17.

Pretty sobering considering our passionate affair with all that is STUFF in
the world. Lord, replace these desires for a pure and lasting desire to love
You and others before anything else.



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