Meditations on Packing

It's amazing how God can get to you, teaching and humbling in the most random situations. The random situation I speak of in this case is packing for my trip. As you might know, I am leaving for briefing tomorrow before gallivanting around the world to Tokyo, Japan. The only possessions I will have to my name are what I can fit in a suitcase and two carry-on bags. That being said, I initially wanted to pack as much as I possibly could. I wanted to be a good girl scout and "be prepared" and since I'm going to be hot and sweaty I figured I needed as many clothes as possible. When one shirt got too sweaty I could just put on a new one!

But then I weighed my mondo suitcase on my grandparents' bathroom scale. Granted the scale was pretty old and definitely off a few pounds, but my suitcase was well on its way over the limit. This meant some MAJOR down-sizing. Out came the baby suitcase, half the size of this monster I had successfully stuffed. With cutbacks particularly in the clothing department and clothes-rolling worthy of any experienced traveler, I was able to pack everything in this mini suitcase and a carry-on duffel bag. Pretty good if I do say so myself!

Sometime during this whole ordeal the words of Jesus to his apostles telling them to not take cloak or staff popped into my head. At first it was very fuzzy, but I was able to clarify the thought enough to get a google search going for the passage in the Bible that I was thinking of. The incident is found three times: Matthew 10:5-15; Mark 6:7-13; Luke 9:1-6. In all these Jesus sends his disciples and explicitly instructs them to take nothing with them as they go out and preach the Gospel. Needless to say I felt just slightly ridiculous about my packing stress. Here I am worrying over having enough clean shirts and my toothbrush when the very God I serve is sending out those nearest and dearest to him with only the clothes on their backs. It made me wonder if I would ever be able to trust God enough to do something like that, go out with nothing to call my own and trust Him to provide for me like he always does.

Now I am fairly certain that God doesn't object to some clean underwear, a hairbrush and shampoo, but I'm positive that he cares more about the state of my heart than the state of my clothing. Having this put on my heart has definitely made my packing experience a lot easier.