Baggage

When Jesus sent his disciples out on one of their mission trips, he instructed them to leave their luggage behind:

 

“Take nothing for the journey-no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no
extra tunic.”

                                               –Luke 9:3

 

And that’s exactly how Jesus sent me to Swaziland.  I barely made the connecting flight out of Washington DC, but my luggage wasn’t so lucky.  I found myself halfway around the world with nothing but the clothes on my back and the stuff in my backpack. 

 

And do you know what?  It was one of the best parts of the trip.  God taught me something  through that experience.  He was telling me that I need to let go of my baggage.  I need to let go of the regrets, the disappointments, the failures of the past.  Those things do nothing but weigh me down.  They’re unnecessary.  God has redeemed those things and I can move forward in freedom, without guilt, regret, or shame.

 

And so I spent the week without my baggage, without the stuff I was used to clinging to.  It was a great week.

 

Sometimes we need to just throw off anything that entangles, and run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  I’m so glad my suitcase didn’t make the trip.