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b"Monday, August 26, 2013\\n\\nWhen do plan to be free of all your stuff?\\nEcclesiastes 5:15New Living Translation (NLT)15 We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can\\u2019t take our riches with us.\\n_____________________\\n\\nI'm moving from one country to another. Moving house with a very limited removals vehicle has forced some hard decisions. Do you keep the children's school art (they've all grown up). You read that book years ago, why do you need to keep carrying it? Possessions own us! We desire them. They weigh us down. Quite literally they weigh a lot! I was looking on web sites that estimate the weight of a person's household to make sure the hired 3.5 ton Luton van with 15.5 cubic meters can safely carry the sum of my worldly possessions.\\n\\nMy mind is loaded with thoughts on this subject.\\n\\nA few years ago I decided I need a new rucksack (sm day backpack) to carry my stuff for work, as well as the all important pack up (lunch), and maybe a laptop too. I decided a large-ish one made by Victorinox (the Swiss Army Knife People) weighed in as the winner. Firstly, it seems other middle aged guys had the same idea, since I started seeing them around town. Second, I noticed they were really too big, unfortunately after I bought it (You look like a pregnant mule is strapped to your back). Third, I should have known the first rule of bags (and life for that matter), You tend to fill all the space available. \\n\\nThe bigger your bag the more you carry. Just in case! The bag owns you, you are just the willing pack horse for stuff that wants to move around!\\n\\nThe Daughter of Davis are an inspirational band made up of two sisters (Fern and Adrienne) who sold everything they had to buy a camper van to tour for two years around the United Kingdom. In a real sort of way, they lightened their load so they could follow their dreams. Well they sing a song called Butterfly. I must confess even when I am an ardent fan, I struggle to catch and sing along with all the lyrics. This leads to alternate lyrics. \\n\\nSo when I heard the line, 'I could get into this living life ' I was sure they were singing, 'I could get into this living light' and further it made perfect sense to me as they sold everything and a butterfly is so light. The point is living light feels so good. We love to travel light but we don't. We clutter our life all up with junk. And if it is not actual physical junk it is emotional 'baggage'.\\n\\n\\nBethany, my daughter did her gold Duke of Edinburgh award this year. One of the requirements is a group orienteering camping exercise for six days in the countryside. One of the binding principles is that you can only use what you can carry! No stopping off at the corner store or some outdoor shop along the way to get supplies. So the common schoolgirl error is to carry too much stuff, just in case. So the trick is to carry just the right amount of stuff. Enough to survive but not so much as to be burdened down.\\n\\n\\n\\nI'm sure that's why the author of Hebrews encourages his readers to strip off the weight that slows us down.\\nHebrews 12:1-2New Living Translation (NLT)12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.[a] Because of the joy[b] awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God\\u2019s throne.\\n\\n(I can't find the original artist to give credit or ask permission.)\\n\\nPictured above is a classic woodcut rendering of the character, Christian in John Bunyan's epic tale Pilgrim's Progress. In the following passage Christian is freed from the burden that weighs him down.\\nNow I saw in my dream, that the highway up which Christian was"