Heavy Baggage

I realize that I’ve talked about my airport escapades in a couple of earlier blogs, but truly airports can be tricky, don’t you think? Most of the time, my travel partner has been my boss, Kathleen. We have been traveling together for about ten years now and have stacked up the memories. If you had the occasion to ask her what about the most memorable one would be of, her answer would probably be, “When she Pulled a Patti with the ‘Suitcase Incident’!”

I’ll take you back to that trip…. I believe we traveled into Orlando. I had my gigantic suitcase plus another smaller bag that held only ten pairs of size ten shoes. The secret to a successful, enjoyable trip is to assure you have the right shoes with you. You don’t know which shoes are the “right” shoes so you should always take enough choices. I have one sister in particular that can relate to this travel plan. 

I navigated both my bags quite nicely upon checking in for my flight; however, I noticed that I was having an extremely hard time upon arrival maneuvering both my bags from the baggage claim area to the hotel. I set the suitcase on top of my GYNORMOUS one just as I had done at the beginning of my journey, but it wasn’t working very well. The two bags wouldn’t balance together very well and with every two steps, I had to readjust my cumbersome luggage.

In our hotel room, I began to unpack. With the suitcase on the bed, I was horrified to unzip it only to discover strange stuff  in place of my shoes! I HAD SOMEONE ELSE’S SUITCASE! “Whose stuff is in my bag!” I exclaimed. Realization set in and I mumbled “I have someone else’s bag!” It was an innocent mistake. I must have picked up the wrong bag. MY bag was green, just as this strange one on my bed. Just about that time, my phone rang. It was Orlando International Airport looking for me AND THE BAG!

They sent someone quickly to switch them out. (I guess the woman who had my bag must have had no use for ten pairs of size 10’s!) Probably a petite size 8! My boss took one look at my bag and said, “Your bag doesn’t look anything like the other one! Your bag is about ½ the size of the one you took.” Both were a shade of green though!! Hmm, no wonder I was having such a time balancing the two bags together.

Are you having trouble carrying your oversized baggage through your life? The Lord brought it to my attention one day while in prayer what I was doing with my baggage. While I asked him to take it, I never quite opened up my hands to unload it and let Him take the load I was carrying around each and every day.  He said, “Open up your hands completely, empty your burdens and cares for me to take and trust that I will."

Lighten your load! Don’t try to carry that oversized baggage through your life because you won’t enjoy the trip!

Take your burdens (baggage) to the Lord and leave them there.
1 Peter 5:7, "Cast all of your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you."

Just as soon as I put the last period on this blog, I got a phone call from my mechanic. This morning my car all of a sudden died on me as I approached a busy intersection. With my hazard lights on and my arms waving cars around me, I finally had two kind gentlemen stop and push me down the road to the nearest parking lot. I had my car towed to a nearby shop. Never having trouble prior with my car I figured it was a simple fix. Diagnosis came back that my little Red Kia Rio is ready to be “put down”. I will put into practice this message as I cast this anxiety onto Him to carry me to my next step. And He will! Amen!