On a visit to the seminary earlier in the month, as I walked down a long hallway, I noticed statues of the Magi and a camel sitting in some window sills. It looked like they had just been gotten out of storage and just put in the handiest place. Then next day I noticed that they had moved on to the next window sills and were deliberately arranged. When I returned to the seminary two weeks later the Magi and their camel had moved much farther along and were now arranged on the window sills with some pine. (I have always been a little annoyed that the three have to share one camel. In my main nativity set I made sure they each have their own camel.) I found the travels of these statues a nice reminder to get started on our way to Bethlehem.
As our pilgrimage walked down into the canyons of Petra in Jordan we heard clopping sounds behind us and I turned just in time to snap this picture of a camel driver heading down to the "marketplace" where he would provide rides for eager tourists.
The story of the Magi always helps me to think about leaving the familiar and starting on the way to something new and strange. There is always some reluctance to let go of the old, but my liberal heart is always sure that around the next corner there will be a better view, a clearer truth.
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