Do You Have Excess Baggage?
OCTOBER 8, 2020
By Marianna Meachen, Director of Care Ministries
In October 2003, my late husband Rich fell 18 feet onto a concrete floor and broke his pelvis in three places. After the initial surgery to repair the pelvis and then three subsequent surgeries to "fix" things, Rich was sent to Los Angeles to have another surgery where they would re-break his pelvis, and operate to repair it.
I let my parents know about the planned surgery, and they insisted they come to California to be with us during this time. My youngest sister, Wendy, also came. Rich decided that since he would be non-weight bearing six to eight weeks after surgery, we would have a bit of vacation time beforehand. My parents had never been to California, so we decided we would all meet in San Francisco, spend about three or four days there and travel down the coast highway to Los Angeles, stopping for a night in Monterey.
Rich and I flew into San Francisco. A day later, my parents and sister flew in from Indiana. We had rented a van to accommodate us all and a wheelchair that Rich would use after the surgery and would have for the trip home.
We had a great time. As we checked out of the hotel, Rich asked if we could store our luggage for the day as we planned to leave San Francisco at around 3:00 p.m. The day manager told us we could keep our bags in the backroom and directed us there. When we returned to get our luggage, Rich, daddy, and Wendy retrieved our bags and loaded the van. Wow! The van was so full, we even had bags under our legs.
When we arrived in Monterey, we checked into a hotel before going to dinner. We got our three requisite rooms and carried them in our luggage. Rich and I were settling in when my dad knocked at the door. He told Rich, "I think we got some of your luggage." Rich asked if any of the luggage belonged to us, and I said no. Daddy said it must belong to my sister Wendy so off he went to Wendy's room. A few minutes later, daddy knocked on our door again and told us the luggage did not belong to Wendy.
We all gathered together and tried to figure out who owned each piece of luggage. Rich looked at the baggage tags and found we had luggage of another family. We even had a laptop computer! The hotel in San Francisco had not properly tagged our bags when we asked to leave it for the day. Another family had done the same and when we picked up our bags, we didn't realize not everything belonged to us!
Rich phoned the hotel in San Francisco and spoke to the night manager. He explained what had happened. The manager told Rich we had to take the luggage back. Rich told him since it was the hotel's error, they had to come to Monterey to get it. The manager agreed and sent a courier to pick up the "extra" bags. When we left a day and a half later, we had undoubtedly lightened our load. We could all move again!
It is easy to become burdened by what life throws at us. We often become so stressed amid our worries and frustrations, we can become overwhelmed. We sometimes keep our feelings bottled up for the sake of our family. Sometimes we are embarrassed or ashamed of our circumstances, and we find it difficult to lay our burdens down and ask for help from those around us. Pastor Steve often reminds us that "what stays hidden, stays hurting."
You don't need to carry around that extra baggage. Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 NIV
When we’re overwhelmed by burdens, Jesus tells us to come to Him where we can find real rest. We can look at friends, but they alone can't help. They can help walk you to the foot of the cross and place your hand in the hand of Jesus. It's hard to carry your burdens alone. Let others be with you and help you.
Jesus wants you to take on His yoke. He wants to share in our burdens. The Lord of Lords and King of Kings wants to walk alongside you. As we lay down our burdens to Him, He offers us something sweeter in return…a lightening of our load, a sense of peace and tranquility. When we lean on Him, we allow Him to take the weight of our circumstances. We can trust Him to be faithful to listen and answer when we call.
In our congregation, we are so blessed. We have a prayer team that is willing to pray with you and for you. All it takes is a call or e-mail to the church. We have Stephen Ministers who train to walk alongside you in a difficult time of your life. The meetings and their content are confidential. Men meet with men and women with women. We also have DivorceCare, GriefShare, and Facing Cancer with Hope to help you during hurtful and stressful times. We also maintain a roster of professional counselors who are Christians. You may contact me as our Pastoral Care Chaplain to learn more.
You are not alone. Won’t you lighten your load and lean into the love of our wonderful Savior Jesus and the amazing men and women who serve our church who will help you place His yoke upon you? God doesn't want us weighed down by life. He died so we would be set free. Our job at this moment is to lay those burdens down at His feet so that He can take care of the rest.
Prayer: Abba Father, we are so very grateful that we don't have to carry excess baggage in these difficult times of life. We can come to You and find the freedom we so crave. Thank You for Your love, Your mercy, Your grace, and thank You that You are with us. You have people who serve you who are willing to walk beside us, knowing that You are the cure-giver freeing us from those things that weigh us down. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen!
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