I confess! I need a purse handbag.

I am finally ready to admit it. I need a purse handbag. Years ago I went through a bad purse period. Before that, life had been relatively simple. During baby-toting years, purse = diaper bag. Then I was an undergraduate so purse = backpack. Then I worked in Corporate America and purse = brief case. I evolved into a system where I carried cash in my pocket and everything else in whatever I was using to carry my notebook, laptop and wallet (id). The bad purse period was the end of any effort to carry a purse with normal girl-stuff. My last purse was stolen about 6 years ago. I never bothered to replace it. Now, I have to admit, I’m struggling. I’m not sure why, maybe I’ve let too much complexity creep back into my world. Here’s today’s system: I carry a simple bag with me to church/Bible Study, I carry a computer bag/carrying case to work, and I have an uber-bag for travel.

Bag for church (I carry a USB storage drive, papers, hand lotion, maybe some lipstick, checkbook, notebook):

Bag for work (laptop, notebook, chapstick, wallet, a few sundries, camera):

This is my travel bag: It has been to Asia and back 4-5 times, plus many local trips, by land and by air. I’m amazed at how much it holds and how well it holds up. My computer and my crocheting, fiction, and all essentials, including food. When I took it to the Deeper Still conference, it carried my Bible and lunch for 2.

Problems with my current system: I keep finding myself without wallet or camera or sundries because I failed to switch things around.

The wallet and the camera are my main concerns:

So if these two little items are all I really need to keep up with, but I have sundries, and the weekday need to sport a computer, what do I do? In case you think you have the answer already, I should mention that my stylish sister is horrified that I wear my cell phone in a holster. Does it belong in the purse handbag? Also note, the real catalyst for the crisis is a pair of outrageously expensive sunglasses. I have a need to keep up with the eyeglass case (which contains my new Rx glasses when I’m sporting the stylish shades).

Any/all style suggestions are welcome. I seem to lack the gene that allows me to shop for a purse handbag.

Meanwhile, I’m searching for scriptural guidance. Luke is the most helpful. In Chapter 10 Jesus sent out 72 as lambs among wolves, without purse or bag or sandals. And in Chapter 12: “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Finally, in Chapter 22: “Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Nothing,” they answered.
He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. ” The time had come for the disciples to be prepared to wend their own way. They could no longer rely on the generousity of others. Similarly, I must be prepared. Of my current options, if I must pick one, my traveling bag is looking to be the best. I’m keeping my eyes open for a better solution…