our stuff.

It was late this Spring when Marc dropped the bomb on me.
He called from work. 
"I'm ready." he simply said.
"Ready for what?"
"Ready to go." he said.
"Go where?"
"Ready to go.  Wherever God wants us to go.  Anywhere.  It's time to go."

We had talked about doing overseas mission work together since before we were married.  We had a heart to serve and we had medical skills....early on we felt God's call to use both of those together...for Him.  Then we had kids.  How in the world do we go overseas WITH KIDS we wondered????  Time went by and although our love for the Lord did grow, so did our routines/habits looking more and more like the world's.  But then 2010 happened.  The year that I will always remember by the Lord GRABBING our hearts individually and yet TOGETHER at the same time.  He told us that it was time to let go of our American comforts and no longer live by the world's standard's but by His alone.  We knew we had some serious changes to make...both in our hearts and in many outward things.

But it wasn't until Marc told me that he thought God wanted us to go....go somewhere, that I really started to look at my HOME differently.  If we were really going to "GO" then I would have to get rid of a BUNCH of stuff.  At first all I saw was STUFF!  STUFF everywhere!  This is ridiculous, I thought....I have soooooooo much stuff and yet so many people don't even have a glass of clean water to drink.  Ridiculous.  I must get rid of it and give every penny to God's precious children around the world that have nothing.  And then the tables turned and I started looking at my stuff differently.  Wow, I thought....look how much nice stuff I have collected over the years, it's beautiful, and each piece means so much to me, how can I live happily without it.  Oh, I will miss it.  Oh, I don't want to give it away.  Oh, it's not really THAT big of deal...is it?  All of the sudden I saw my home as a mansion full of treasures.  I love my home.  I saw my home as MY space.  A very comfortable space.  I grieved the mere thought of having to get rid of my stuff.

And then God spoke to me.

James 5

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you.  Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.  Your gold and silver are corroded.  Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire.  You have hoarded wealth in the last days.....You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence.

Ack!  Such strong words I thought.  Glad I am not the "Rich Oppressor" that the NIV labels that passage as.  Uh...but wait...I am theoretically, or actually, in the top 5% of the richest people in the world.  Isn't that what the statistics say about most of us middle-class Americans?  Um....could this passage on the "rich" apply to ME????  Do I have gold and silver that will corrode and be brought before me on Judgement Day?  I know what my friends would say about me....I am NOT rich.  I know what most of the rest of the world would say....I AM rich.  Um....God, what would YOU say?

And so this week, as we begin to prepare to leave for Africa, we have been looking at our stuff a little differently and asking God what HE wants us to keep and what He wants us to get rid of.  It hasn't been easy.