Backpacks. Day Packs. Tents. Sleeping bags. Sleeping Pads. Packing Cubes.
These are words that I’ve used more in the last month than I’ve used in the last 10 years of my life. And I’m so sick of talking, thinking, stressing about bags, gear and packing.
The preparation for this trip is so…. overwhelming. I’ve spent hours scouring world racer alumni blogs to see what they had on their packing lists, see what kind of backpack they had and what kind of tent they brought with them. I want so badly to be prepared and have all the “right” things… But unfortunately, I live in the real world where things cost MONEY and it just so happens that pretty much all the stuff I need for this trip is expensive!
So. I’m just over it. I’ve got time to get my stuff. I’m not going to run down to every store that’s having a sale because I might get some really cool headlamp or packing cube. It’s people’s excitement that has them all crazy right now, but I’m refusing to fall into it right now.
I was reading Luke 10 to try and focus and remember WHY I’m doing the world race and HOW Christ called and calls his disciples to go into the world. In Luke 10:4, Jesus tells his disciples, “ Don’t take any money with you, nor a traveler’s bag, nor an extra pair of sandals...”
And it was very odd/awesome that the Erykah Badu song “Bag Lady” popped into my head. The lyrics, in many ways, totally pinpoint how I’m feeling about the packing list craziness as well as how God calls us to have little baggage both literally and figuratively.
He wants us to be free from the worries and anxieties of this life, but He also wants us to care more about our neighbors and their needs and less about the material things (the ‘bags’) that we have in our own lives. When we travel this world with less baggage it allows us to become fully reliant on God’s provision for us. When we have less emotional baggage, we’re better able to function in our relationships and really be ourselves. When we have less physical baggage like tech items, clothing, toys and other material things, we’re better able to focus on what really matters instead of superficial things. That’s why the Bible is so clear on wealth and excess: Jesus said, “I’ll say it again–it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” (Matt.19:24) It’s so easy to become fully self-reliant when I’ve got everything I need already. But it’s in the seasons of want, those times when everything I want seems to be everything I don’t have…it’s in those times that I become fully reliant on God. And that’s exactly what He wants because He wants to be able to dazzle us with His unfailing, never-ending, always-on-time love and provision!
Now, obviously, I can’t do exactly what Luke 10:4 says in 2014 but I’m going to do my best to do the 21st century version of that!! Realistically, I can’t go without money but I’m not going to bring an excess of spending money. I can’t go without a backpack but I’m not bringing some gargantuan 60L or 70L bag, I’m getting a 45L bag so that I won’t have room for extra crap that I won’t need. And obviously I can’t do this without shoes, but I’m not going out and buying 3 new pairs of shoes, or any of the other stuff people are doing. I’m going to try my best to bring clothing and footwear I already have. These are just a few of the ways I’m going to try and live out Jesus’ directions in my 2014, 21st century journey.
What baggage, literal or figurative, have WE been carrying around? It’s my hope and prayer that you, me– all of us– would be encouraged and challenged to drop our bags and start traveling light. You’d be surprised at how much easier this life can be without so much weight on your shoulders.
As my girl Erykah puts it:
Bag lady you gone hurt your back
Dragging all them bags like that
I guess nobody ever told you
All you must hold on to
Is you, is you, is you
One day all them bags gone get in your way
One day all them bags gone get in your way
I said one day all them bags gone get in your way
One Day all them bags gone get in your way
So pack light
Oooh Oooh
