It Is A Narrow Way. It Is A Difficult Road. We ...

It is a narrow way. It is a difficult road. We have to leave much behind: our wants, our needs, our baggage, and our misconceptions. One time when we were first married, Kendra and I planned a trip to Cedar Point. I like to save money so we stayed in a hotel about twenty minutes from the point. It was a Best Western so I thought it was pretty safe (this was before the Internet where you can now see the hotel before you stay). This was not a hotel. It was a motel. I will never understand how they had managed to get the Best Western name. It was one of those places that all the room entrances are on the outside like the city motel downtown on 6th St. As I brought in our luggage for the stay, I tried to make one trip and load three or four bags. But I could not get through the door. The doorway was so small and narrow there was no way to get through the door with all that baggage. I had to set down the bags and take them one at a time.

There are a lot of people that have grown comfortable with their baggage. Whether it is emotional baggage from their childhood or from messy relationships or the baggage of bad theological belief systems that they were taught (and perhaps misunderstood) but never closely examined. Sometimes we even carry baggage of emotional immaturity that weighs us down and causes us incredible discomfort and pain as well as becomes stumbling blocks for others. But we are used to them and don’t want to go through the trouble and pain of discarding them. It is easier to stay stuck in the past. It is a road well-traveled and familiar.