Car Fasting

So today begins Lent and my own discipline of going without a car.  Actually my husband and I are going from two cars to one car for the period until Easter.  I did this two years ago, just to see how it would be to experience life without the convenience of an automobile.  I didn't write about it then, but I intend to this time.
This morning I car-pooled into Arlington with my husband, who dropped me off  at the IHOP in Ballston, where I ate breakfast before catching the ART 62 bus to Lorcom and Military Road to meet and pray with Arlington pastors at Cherrydale Baptist, then walked the several blocks to my church on Military Road.
Two observations this morning--this experiment changes my perceptions of time and space:
TIME--5:15 am is way too early for my body at this point, but the extra half hour with my husband in the car, just listening to music with him, was a blessing.  So was the coffee at IHOP, where I finished some magazine reading that I don't usually get the time for.  I'm looking forward to the extra reading time that this way of traveling will allow.
SPACE--The bus route through north Arlington passes through some vintage single-family homes along 15th Street and then Utah.  It's easy to see which ones have been remodeled, and which maintain that older look.  I wonder about the families in those homes...why all the remodeling?  What compels us to rearrange our living spaces?  Is it easier to change our home interiors than our personal interiors?
God seems to be in the remodeling business.  We invite the God into our lives, and then are surprised that God wants to be about a complete renovation, knocking out a wall here and there, completely changing the floor plan, rewiring all the electricity, all painful changes.  What will become of us?  What will become of me in this year's Lent?

More on biblical illiteracy

Biblical illiteracy is engulfing us.  It’s our fault, preachers and church folks.  We have failed.  The new Presbyterian FOG calls pastors “teaching elders” and emphasizes the role we need to assume.  We need to teach.  This is part of my own calling: to study and teach the scriptures, as a way to tell folks about Jesus.  How are those who don’t know about Jesus going to follow him?  They won’t.  Teaching the Bible on it’s own terms--not as a manual for answers, not as a methodology, but as revelation--is a passion of mine.

So I’m always on the lookout for good texts that explain some points about reading scripture for 21^st century, North American people.  Here's  a blog I read today that explains a way to approach scripture that is a “third way.”  Love the name, too: "Left Behind and Loving It."