Packing for the Exodus

"And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders." (Ex 12:33-34 AV)

When they departed for the Exodus and their extended sojourn in the desert the people of Israel were in a hurry and had little time or room to pack the material goods of their lives in Egypt. While we have had lots of time, we will have little room for the material things of the next phase of our sojourn. I realize one Subaru Outback wagon load would have been a vast treasure to an Isrealite household, but by the standards of America in the 21^st century it is small indeed.

The process of our packing started with a yard sale. Last summer we sold much of what we felt we would not need. Then, when our home sold in the winter, we sold or disposed of everything we did not have immediate use for or did not want to store. We now have 300 square feet of rented storage space, and that is with the vast majority of our furniture, almost all our tools and many of my "man toys" sold!

Now the truly hard part comes: What do we pack for deputation? For six months we have been thinking of what clothes to pack, what will our display be like, what storage items will we need for brochures and prayer cards. We have a basic policy - any new purchase must be accompanied by giving something away, unless it is a necessary addition to the deputation kit.

The Lord has allowed us the opportunity to do some part time deputation meetings so we will be able to trial run our presentation and display materials. That will be a great blessing. The day will soon come when we will move from our 400 square foot studio apartment into the Subaru. The few items we removed from storage will go back. The clothes we do not need will be added to the storage locker and we will drive off into our desert wandering.

We have the blessing of a fixed goal for our journey, full time ministry with IPM, which in itself will be a series of sojourns although with the luxury of a home base. We also have the blessing of the same God Israel had in the desert. This is the God who provided manna, the God who prevented their shoes or clothes from wearing out. This is the God who protected them from Pharaoh and his army. While I do not expect Him to feed us with manna or prevent our car from running out of gas or our tires from wearing out, I do expect Him to provide for our needs because He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Moses and Joshua, and through the Exodus journey He demonstrated Himself to be the God that provides.

--posted by Charlie