One of the biggest tasks we have as we prepare to leave the country is packing our possessions. Shipping a container with all of our belongings was not an option, so the big question was: should we keep them at all? We want to be good stewards (especially of wedding gifts) but we felt a strong conviction to evaluate our real “need” for stuff. For the majority of our things we had to decide if they had been used in the past two years and if we would fathomably use them in the next two. If the answer was no, then we got rid of them. You would think that because we only rent a basement we would not have that many things, but you would be wrong. Going through our possessions quickly became time-intensive, overwhelming, and frankly embarrassing. Especially for Daesha, who had an extraordinarily ridiculous amount of clothing, Matthew 6:25-34 seemed eerily relevant. After our family had the first pick, the garage sale was over, and the car was unloaded at Goodwill, we drove away with a mixed bag of feelings. We felt a small sense of loss because this downsizing was both a symbolic and a practical step towards leaving. But honestly we felt a bigger sense of relief. Stuff is stressful. Perhaps that is why God warns us so much about getting attached to it. And as the weeks have gone by, we’ve already forgotten at least half of the things in those piles. In a few more weeks, we probably won’t remember any of it. So in the words of that deep and spiritual philosopher Dierks Bentley, “Free and easy, down the road I go...”
We each get to take two suitcases to Ghana. If you were moving and could only have two suitcases, what would you keep? More importantly, how do your possessions (no matter what you have) affect your relationship with God? Sometimes material things can be used for God's glory or they can hinder our willingness to serve. These are just questions we’re dealing with, and thought you might find interesting.