The past few months have been a close but serious ride on the roller coaster of soul meat. Of course, I'm sure it will continue for the rest of my life. I mean, one intense roller coaster ride. Now that I'm back home in New Zealand after an exhilarating time, I have an amazing story that God is opening up to me that I thought I'd share in a short post.

  I moved last Wednesday, December 18th. I moved out of my rental home of 14 years. I had been diligently packing for this move for five days beforehand, and the movers completed the move on the same day. But the only thing left to do is to clean up all the trash and junk from the old house. As we tackled this task, which seemed like a cataclysmic task, the Lord gave us a realization.

  For 14 years, we had too many unnecessary things. The number of things that we never used but just kept as decorations or tucked away in a corner was unbelievable. Worse, they realized that they were trash. Luckily, some of them were useful to someone, so we put them on the lawn in front of our house, and it cleared up a lot. 

  While cleaning, I realized that there was a serious amount of dust in the house. There were furniture and household items hiding inside and on the floor that we couldn't see. Looking at it, we shared a mirror-like agreement. It was as if our lives and hearts would have all this trash and dust in them too. 

  So we are cleaning and organizing our new home as we clean and organize our old home. Above all, we are thankful and boastful to God. The new house we are moving into is a new apartment, newly built. And while it is still a rental and not our own home, it is a home that we can live in until we die if we choose. The “how” is a testimony. 

  It was like a message to me when I was struggling with some difficult emotional and spiritual problems. It sounds like a message to start over with a new heart in a new home. It can also be interpreted as a message to shake off the junk and dust that I had accumulated in my old house without realizing it. I looked back over the past 24 years. 

  It seems that we need to move, both in our lives and in our faith. No, as 2024 passes, we will definitely have to move (24). As we move into the 25th year, I hope that we have organized and cleaned up all the junk and dust. And I hope you've organized the things you need to put away in the next 25 years. Let's cheer each other on to make the rest of the move nice and cool!

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)