Excess luggage

I arrived at the airport luggage counter with an itinerant minister friend who was departing from my city to continue on with the next leg of her journey. Michelle had already made a few ministry stops before Perth, and along the way she had added to her luggage content several items which were a combination of gifts received and little things she had purchased along the way. Consequently her suitcase was now bulging at the seams.  

“Leave some of the excess behind”

My suggestion to leave some of the excess items behind with me was stubbornly rejected as she was determined to leave nothing behind. When I raised the possibility of being charged for excess weight, Michelle replied confidently, ‘God will take care of it for me.’

Michelle had an expectancy of God that He would cause the airport check-in official to turn a blind eye to the fact that she was knowingly and wilfully carrying excess luggage. I was not as confident because at times we need to take responsibility for ourselves.

 When the queue shortened and the time came for Michelle to place her suitcase on the scales, they registered as being overweight. The check-in official gave her a choice to either remove excess weight or to pay for the kilograms her suitcase was above the allowance. Michelle begrudgingly opened her wallet and proceeded to pay the required amount, and as she did so her suitcase was tagged ‘heavy load’.

In ministry life, unless we learn to, and are willing to, offload and leave behind excess luggage which we accumulate from life experiences it will have immense ramification and personal cost for us as we move into our future.