:: St. Stephen's Musings ::

:: Tuesday, May 04, 2004 ::

Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost

Somebody asked me the other day "Have you ever had a bumper sticker on your car?"

I've had two. The first was the result of a practical joke some years ago when a co-worker named Marty thought it would be a scream to put a bright orange "Porn Star" sticker on the back of my '77 Honda Accord. (Now, *that* sentence is going to get some interesting google hits!)

More than 24 hours later, when I finally saw Marty's handiwork, I realized why an middle-aged woman in an feminist-colored Volvo (grey, of course!) gave me a dirty look as I passed her on the freeway the day before.

I was also able to make sense of a group of college guys in a white van who beeped their horn repeatedly, grinning, and pumping their fists at me as I drove by.

Of course I had to pass this bit of fun on. So with Marty's help I placed this vocational identity sticker on the bumper of my CFO's shiny new Jaguar. He didn't see it until that evening when a nun at his son's Catholic school asked what it was doing on his car.

Yes, I got to keep my job.

The other sticker I had was one that read "Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost"

It was on the same '77 Honda and I kept it during my trek into Buddhism. It seemed appropriate at the time considering I really wasn't repudiating Christianity; I was simply trying to find the fullness of the Christian Faith. (Oh, how Chesterton would laugh at that!)

Once I became Orthodox I didn't need the sticker since I wasn't wandering anymore. I had been on one long journey but only then had I allowed myself to be lured by the ancient path.

I haven't felt the need to have a bumper sticker since....although if I ever did it might be along the lines of "My Church wrote your Bible" or something equally inflammatory and pithy.

Update: The bumper sticker contest is on!

:: Karl :: 8:04:00 AM [Link] ::