Uninvited Baggage

Shalom to you all!!   

Grace and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!!  I am still in the states and have already felt the Spirit of God moving and opening my mind to see more about His kingdom.  I successfully procrastinated in packing in the last couple days.  For all of you out there who have ever done that, then you know how my morning was.  I scrambled around in different rooms and searched through luggage to ensure that what we call our “essentials” were packed.  The last couple days I was caught up by the worrying of having everything I NEEDED for MY trip.  I felt calm and peaceful and full of joy on the outside; but, on the inside I was worrying about fleshly provisions that I believed were necessities for me to have on my trip.  Looking back I find that my prayers and quiet times had taken an early flight and were nowhere to be seen.  How deceived I was to think I was at peace in my spirit because of how I was portraying myself to the world.  This evening my spirit felt heavy and overwhelmed because of my worry that was disguised as “necessary preparation” this morning.  I was short in conversation and irritable in spirit.  I caught brief comfort from God with a song on the radio but quickly fell back into the hustle and bustle of being prepared for EVERYTHING that could possibly happen in Israel.  My attitude poured into my family and everybody else I came into contact with today.  I wasn’t necessarily negative but definitely wasn’t full of zeal that would allow me to uplift them and to be a light in a dark world.  Even the encouraging messages that were being texted to me all day were acknowledged and then overtaken by my stress.  My sneezing, runny nose, itchy and then watery eyes compounded the situation as I checked into the hotel in Newark, NJ.  
     It wasn’t until my twin, Mark, and I went to dinner at the hotel cafe’ that I noticed the heaviness of my spirit.  We prayed.  Some of the heaviness immediately went away as I began to focus on God and His provision and omnipotence in this world.  A world that is so full of distractions.  Dinner was great and my mind was refocused.  We overheard an older couple preaching back and forth at each other about Christ and His time here on Earth.  I felt an impulse to go over say hello to these strangers and eventually got up and interrupted their conversation.  The man had a passion and zeal for the Lord that was encouraging and very uplifting to my Spirit as he spoke to us about his many experiences in the Holy Land.  He was a retired pastor from Ohio that had taken his whole church to Israel at one point.  We got to mutually encourage each other for a couple minutes as God completely took the weight off of my heart and my spirit.  
     In this moment I was reminded of what Matthew 6:25-34 was really talking about.  STOP WORRYING!!  This worry that had engulfed my spirit had hindered 3 conversations that could have easily become a time to glorify God and give hope somebody’s soul.  That’s 3 divine appointments that I missed because I was focused on me and my agenda.  I let a good thing, going to Israel, that God had for me become a hinderance to His divine plan in my life.  Thank you Lord for continuing rescue me from myself!  Moral of today’s story...1) don’t procrastinate.  But in all actuality 2) don’t allow life’s blessings or setbacks pull you away from the divine guidance, provision, and purpose of the Holy Spirit of God.  

  On a happier note, I am about 15 hours away from boarding a plane to fly to Israel.  My spirit is full of joy and my brother and I have laughed into tears multiple times tonight.  I have freshened up on my Holy Land history and am ready to embark on My Jerusalem Pilgrimage.  Stay tuned until next time!

From left to right: Josh, Mark

Much Love! and !!Shalom!!