I pulled into the parking lot and saw it sitting right by the curb. It was a car seat. The orientation meant that I could not see into the seat until I got a little passed it, I braced myself as I pulled next to it. Thankfully, it was empty. I scanned the area. There was no one near.

I drove on to the store and conducted my shopping and then headed out passed the car seat. Some other people were bringing it into the gas station. They had also been bothered by its presence in the lot.

How does a car seat get left in a parking lot? It did not looked damaged and if it had been, then why not put it in the nearby dumpster? The store did not sell car seats, and then nearest store that did was a mile away, so it was not someone looking to trade up and had no room for the old car seat. Why was it in the lot of a home improvement center? it was very confusing.

I still have not come up with a good explanation for the abandoned car seat. It’s an item that does not just wear out on the side of the road. It implies that it had a passenger when it go to that gas station. If it had been a booster seat, then maybe it was the moment the child out grew it, but this was seat for a young child. What would cause person to drag it out and dump it? What happened to the loving feeling, the family together, the safety and embrace around this child?

I don’t know the information, but I can tell you the feelings it gave me. I made me feel that someone must have been hopeless—”I don’t need this anymore.” They must have felt overwhelmed—”I don’t know what else to do but abandon this here.” Or maybe it was an accident. it was in the back of a truck and wind caught it just right and when they got home they were just so thankful that it was empty the whole time. It represents the disintegration of something.

Recently have seen several empty and abandoned churches. This seems as incongruous to me. A place built for hope and protection and joy and worship has become cold and dark an abandoned. Somehow the seats which had been filled became empty. People grew up and decided they no longer needed God or community and walked away. They no longer told the story of Jesus.

God desires you to fill your seat in the family of God. God desires that we watch over each other. God desires that you be surround by love. Please get back into the car.