Life: an adventure, a journey with Jesus!
Bags, Purses, Day Timers, Journals and Backpacks

You are not long in Peru, or SJL, without realizing everyone is carrying something. That in itself is not unusual, because you’ll find it true in the states as well, but here, walking and using public transportation, people carry whatever it is they just might need over the entire day with them, because they cannot leave it in the car, or pick it up later.

It’s interesting to note that the men most always have a day timer, journal, or notebook with them. Many carry backpacks! While riding on the bus, you’ll notice they hold onto it and onto the overhead rail without any difficulty. Not Don! We are so thankful we found leather Bible covers with handles on them. We are not able to keep our balance, carry items, dig into our pockets for fares, and still stay standing and smiling like the Peruvians do!

It’s interesting that there are three types of ladies on the busses. Those with a plastic bag carrying whatever it is they might need, those with a purse, either large or small, and those who choose a backpack. Many ladies, of course, also tote along a young one, or have a baby or toddler in a sling on their backs. Trips to the Mercado will find both men and women lugging home plastic tote bags full and overflowing with the necessities they have purchased.

Now that I’ve painted a picture for you, I’m thinking you want me to get to the point! Seriously, the point is that we all have baggage we carry. It may be in the form of a notebook where we keep thoughts, appointments, lists, and accounting organized. It may be a pretty little purse which holds all we need – change for the bus, and a new lipstick! It may be a large purse which seems to collect items galore and gets heavier and becomes an unruly mess, but we seem to think we need it all.

These pretty purses remind us of the beauty we want others to see, but what’s inside is more important and made me laugh. The small purse only has the capacity to limited things. Is my heart and life like that small purse? Do I pre-select what’s important to me to allow in my life? The larger purse I can stuff more and more into, but I could get frustrated keeping it all sorted and manageable. Ummm….is that what my life is like? Think of the backpack. My goodness we can carry a lot in there and survive a couple of days on its contents! And the journals or day timers usually have an abundance of notes, obsolete phone numbers, and all the previous appointments stay with us until the end of the year because we might need them again!

So, in all reality we are not bags, purses or backpacks. But seeing them over and over, and noticing the people carrying them, and thinking about the individuals, and about myself…..there has to be some Biblical application, right?
- The big purse, my thoughts return to chaos and control. I know that is not of God.
- The pretty purse (on the outside) reflects something entirely different on the inside. God sees my heart.
- Those with the day timer, journal, etc. Do they need to stop overbooking and slow down? Are we stewards of our time? How much of our time do we give God?

None of this is a big discovery, or brilliant finding. None of this is scripturally based. It’s just life. But in life there are little reminders, sometimes just hints, that cause me to think and relate to what it is God may be saying to me, or what He may want of me.