These facts about Lent are interesting, but they are not really very important. The one important fact in your life is this that Jesus Christ died that your sins can be forgiven.

A fact so simple...so familiar to many... so ignored by many... so unknown to so many...yet so huge...so wonderful that is hard to grasp. That is why Christians observe Lent to set forth forty days aside to think about Christ's death and what it means in their lives.

Lent gives you another chance to think about your sins and what it means that Christ died for them. It gives you another chance to review your life, another chance to grow in faith and love.

Lent is a time to be close to God closer than you have ever been. It is a time to attend worship more regularly, to pray more often, to read the Bible more diligently and to spread the Word of God more earnestly.

This Lenten season can be the most important forty days in your life...your life "here and now" and in determining where you will spend your eternal life.

Here are some facts you may or may not know about Lent:

1. Lent is the season of the "church calendar," which includes the 40 days before Easter, not counting the Sundays.

2. The original period of Lent was 40 hours. It was spent fasting to commorate the suffering of Christ. Then it became 30 days, then 36, and finally, during the reign of Charlemagne, about 800 A.D., 40 days not including Sundays.

3. The 40 days of Lent correspond to Christ's 40 days in the wilderness, being tempted by the devil.

4. The date of Lent is determined by the day of Easter. The Council of Niacaea determined in 325 A.D. that Easter would be observed on the first Sunday following the 14th day of the Parschal Moon.

5. The earliest day that Lent can be observed is Feb. 5. That happened last in 1818 and will not occur again during the 20th Century.

6. The latest that Lent can start is March 10. It won't be that late again until the year 2038.

7. Lent comes from the old English word for Spring, lenten. The wearing of sackcloth and ashes is a custom going back to Old Testament times. Many Christians observe the custom on Ash Wednesday, using the ashes of the previous year's burned Palm Sunday palms.