As I was pulling into the Walmart center late this afternoon, I glanced off toward a small car that immediately caught my artist’s eye. From about fifty feet away, it appeared to somehow be entirely covered in stickers. I immediately had some image of an old rusty car being held together by stickers as my mind quickly contemplated the paper-mache-like appearance of this vehicle.
I thought to myself, “that’s remarkable.”
And I found myself doing a u-turn and pulling into a space not far from this sight. Of course I didn’t want to get right next to it, and I rolled down my window, wondering if I got out and took photos would anyone notice, or moreso, would anyone care?
I mean, surely someone who covers their vehicle like that is making some type of statement, and inviting the interested to take a closer look at such a masterpiece! Actually, I remembered photos taken awhile back of another vehicle (ironically in the same general parking lot) and my intention of writing about that vehicle being quite “remarkable.”
At that time, I felt there were quite a string of remarkable (difficult) events bombarding me and seeing that vehicle weeks back on one of those days just made my mind turn!
I decided this afternoon I would do a simple piece here–mostly photos–and say that the 25-minute drive home from Walmart had my mind thinking about all the remarkable things in this remarkably beautiful yet messy, broken world.
What might I say about that which is remarkable in this world?
I thought of so many different types of remarkable things. From things in nature to remarkable art, music and poetry, to remarkable physical feats, to remarkable forms of survival to remarkable technologies to…many more remarkable things.
I even thought about remarks, and making remarks. And, what is the difference between a remark and a comment? Probably not much, yet I’m certain each word is somehow nuanced.
Offhand I would say that a remark may be more terse, or brief.
But something that is truly remarkable may need many words or, ironically, very few, to describe just why it is so remarkable.
As for the two vehicles, what I found remarkable was the dedication, intention and immensely painstaking process these two individuals went to for what appears to be primarily for communication sake. A close examination of the visual content on each vehicle could make for quite a lot of contemplation and discussion, but in a sense, where might one begin?
The entirety of the work on these two vehicles is simply remarkable! Ha.
Given I drive a van with what some might consider a remarkable amount of decorative images and advertising, perhaps I shouldn’t make any remarks about these vehicles! Yet, I feel there is a clear distinction between my artsy-hippie-mobile and these two vehicles.
I actually wondered to myself if it was possibly the same vehicle I had photographed on March 30. Yes, I just looked at the date on my jpeg files; it seems longer ago than just thirty days, but it was not. I compared license plates and models–both small cars but undoubtedly different vehicles.
Yet, in some split seconds I imagined what if it is the same car? What if, the human that had the biblical statements then covered it all over with those stickers? I suppose I’m meandering a little deep here with what one might have thought had it actually been the same vehicle. That would have been doubly remarkable!
I kept thinking, what are the odds that I would see two such vehicles, weeks apart, in the same general lot?
If I could ask one question about these cars it might be (might be!) “Where did the person whose vehicle I saw today get all those different stickers??!!”
I mean, I know where the person who stickered the first car got those letters…any hardware store sells them–and that is a pricy quantity (for that purpose)!
Anyway, that’s really enough about these cars. The visual content seems worthy of photos and an amount of contemplation, and I will leave them at the bottom here (first the vehicle I saw March 30, and then the one I saw today, April 30).
But what is more worthy of contemplation is the number of remarkable things in God’s creation, in life and God’s loving care, and in the human soul.
I suppose if I had to pick just one thing in this realm I consider remarkable, as I thought of too many on my drive home, it would be the human capacity to love. And especially, the human capacity for resilience to consider loving again when one has been so broken by love in the past.
The capacity to love, and especially, to love in ways that set us apart from any other creature in God’s creation, is what makes us human.
We love, because He first loved us. (I John 4:19)
Thank You For Reading
Please Feel Free To Express Your Thoughts Below
