THE LUGGAGE COURSE

Many years ago I traveled extensively, and by the time I was married I never wanted to travel again. I was ready to be a stay-at-home wife and raise a family. Sometime later, with an empty nest looming and the call of future ministry in my heart, I began to again feel the desire to reach outside the limits of my own little boundaries.

The idea of traveling anywhere was rather ridiculous. Neither my husband nor I really had the health or the money to travel. And for me to spend our hard-to-come-by finances on luggage and unnecessary paraphernalia was not practical. I decided this desire must be some kind of a strange intercession, rather like eating pickles and ice cream!

Never-the-less I started my long reaching master plan to accumulate the perfectly organized travel paraphernalia. After I had saved some BD and Christmas money, I bought a wonderful 5 piece set of luggage with wheels and lots of zipper compartments that fit my wishes. I was content. Into the "dream" closet it went, and it sat there waiting to try out its wings.

Suddenly this year I found myself taking some short trips and was excited with the chance to use this wonderful stuff. By this time, I had also collected tiny non-leak bottles for everything you can think of and a backup plan for all possible contingencies on the road that one might want. Is this obsessing or what? I don’t know, but it was fun and I do love to organize.

So this summer I take a friend to surgery out of town. I was dismayed when I packed our station-wagon…. We decided we would camp out in the motel for a few days and let her rest and so we brought everything we could think of. After my shock of stuffing the car, the ridiculousness of it finally caused me to break down in laughter…. "Warning, 2 wild women, on their way to surgery, armed with 11 bed pillows, 4 blankets, 1 cooler, CD’s, tapes, books, lap top, and I won't tell you how much more!!!!!!!!!!! Wayne had given me a BD balloon to take with me, and there was literally no room for it except between my friend’s feet.

Now she has to have a second surgery and so once again I am contemplating what to take and how to pack this cool luggage. Three days stuck in a motel and going nowhere? Back into the car it all goes.

When we arrived at the motel, somehow, with the help of the motel’s rolling cart, I manage to get all our stuff up to the room in 3 trips. We open the door and find the refrigerator broken with water on the floor. When the lady comes to fix the fridge, she asks, "Are you the ones who called about the ghosts in the room?"

We survived all the elements and it was now time to leave for the final appointment after surgery. After our stuff was mostly packed and in the car, suddenly my friend announces that her wallet is missing from her purse. She thinks she left it in our room during surgery. We unpacked everything that is left, and then I tromped down to the car and unpacked all of that luggage. No wallet.

We arrive at the docs quite tired and harried and he sets up an unexpected appointment for the next day. ANOTHER NIGHT??????? I just packed, unpacked and repacked the car!!!!!!!!!! Are you kidding me???

We were not about to go back to that motel, not now, not ever. So I am standing in the parking lot of the new motel and I am thoroughly done in, washed out and exasperated. I decide that I am wearing the same clothes tomorrow, I am not going to eat dinner from the cooler, and I am not going to haul all that stuff again! I am unpacking my stuff in the parking lot and retrieving only the bare necessities! One trip, that’s it.

Of course by the time it comes out of the luggage and is stuffed in plastic bags and pillow cases, it is a gaping mess and hanging off the cart in all directions. By the time I manage to get the one load into the lobby, things are draping off the sides and dragging onto the floor.

… So I am standing there in this nice motel lobby among perfectly dressed people coming and going with their lap tops hanging over their groomed shoulders, and their cute little luggage on wheels. As I am thinking about my cool luggage set abandoned in the car, I see these people in all directions and think it is disgusting. I am standing at the elevator and hoping that no one will notice when I try to shove this pile of pillows and plastic sacks through the door. Just as I am thinking I can get by unnoticed, the manager comes by and cracks, "Oh you are moving in!"

On the way up in the elevator, I announce… "Well Lord if this is a test on our preparation for future ministry trips, I have just flunked the course!" I am thinking about this, and manage to get the whole rack down to the end of the hall. We get the door open and I am pushing the trolley through the door. One push, two push, three push. The stuff that is hanging off in all directions is not budging. Ok, one more time. One BIG PUSH. Bonanza, the cart bursts through the door and everything on it falls off in one big heap, literally one step through the door. Major traffic jam. I could not get in or out!

I look at this pile of rubble and can not hold the tension another moment. I laugh and laugh and laugh. I am holding my stomach, I am almost crying, then I am laughing belly laughs with no sound. I am trying not to disturb the guests. Have you ever tried to laugh without any noise? It makes the hilarity worse. All I could think of was that I managed to get through the door before collapsing. Somewhere, I knew there was a Word from the Lord here!

So what is the moral of this story? An hour later I have taken a well needed nap while my friend reads Bobby Conner’s Shepherd’s Rod 2004. Here is what she reads to me, trying to keep a straight face: "…I believe this is a now word for leadership. Is your luggage stowed? We should not be hauling around needless luggage… the invitation from heaven is found in Rev 4:1-5, "Come up here." Each of us are offered a time to advance higher. Let this be the year for each of us to personally go higher with the Lord than ever before…."

[ http://www.bobbyconner.org/ ]

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CONCLUSION

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{Words to Ponder are summaries of His quickened Words}

WORD TO PONDER: HOW’S YOUR LUGGAGE COURSE? 6/25/04

Dear one, I AM watching you from heaven’s portholes and see all your hopes and dreams. I have seen the accumulation of your years and all that you hold dear. I have heard your yearnings and am intimately acquainted with all your ways.

Beloved, you are prepared to walk through the door of your new beginnings. Everything in your life has prepared you for this time. Because of My grace, you have what it takes to get you through your door. You may feel like your life is falling apart and hanging out all over. Just trust Me, that no matter how harried your condition is when you go through that door, your joy shall burst forth after all the years of restraint.

However, in order to continue through to your destiny, you must let go of the excess baggage. I want you to travel lightly so that your journey will be free and unhindered. I yearn for your joy to remain as you pursue your places in Me. This will require some paring down of what you carry, some rearranging and some decisions about your priorities. It may require some surgery to your body, soul or spirit to drop the weight that so easily besets you and run the race with great grace. So consider well the door that stands before you and enter in with joy.

Heb 12:1-2a NLT

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish.