My little Sabbath miracle

Early this morning as I checked my email, my eyes wandered to my digital camera laying next to my computer, its lens frozen in the extended position ever since it took a tumble out of my purse on Wednesday. "Lord," I prayed, "it really would be nice to be able to take photos today." Karishma, one of my friend Pam's Fijian daughters, was getting baptized, and I knew Pam would want me to take pictures. Plus, I was taking Pam's birthday shawl to her today, and I wanted a photo of her in it.

I picked up the camera. "Lord, if it could just work for this morning." Earlier this week I had already tried tapping on it and manipulating it every which way, but the lens refused to move. The camera would turn on and off, but the display said "zoom error," and the camera could not focus or capture an image. But with that little request in my heart, I turned it on once again and proceeded to pat its bottom, each side, and finally the top. And with a little mechanical groan, the lens shook off its stupor and began to function!

Since our pastor is handicapped, he uses a "back-up man" in the water; that's Rick on the left.

And that's my dear, camera-shy friend!

As soon as I got home on Wednesday (the camera jumped out of my purse - seriously! - when I was getting out of my car to have lunch with my sister in Salem), I got on eBay to look for a replacement. I found an auction for a used camera with lots of extras, the same brand (and therefore same memory card) but a higher-end model than mine, that ended in 11 minutes. I was able to snap it up for a good price. Do I feel bad about spending the money? Not really. The last time I dropped a digital camera it ended up trying to self-combust, so I figure, like Lazarus, the camera I dropped on Wednesday has been resurrected only to die again sooner or later. Today was a gift; I am thankful.

That's it for now at . . .