On July 28, 1982, Christian singer Keith Green, and 10 others died in a plan crash while showing the property of Last Day Ministries to friends. Cause of death leaves no doubt: the plane was overloaded. The pilot, a former Marine Corps aviator, had very little experience in the small Cessna 414 and certainly would not have been familiar with the weight load restrictions. Keith and two of his children, Josiah and Bethany, were 3 of the victims.
Have you ever heard of the Plimsoll Line? Neither had I until I began to study for this message. In 1873 Samuel Plimsoll became very concerned about the number of sailors who were dying. An astonishing 411 ships sank, taking hundreds of men to their watery graves, because of the disregard for safety. They overloaded the ships. Eventually, Plimsoll was able to get a law passed (14 years later) establishing the Plimsoll Line.
It’s too bad there is not a Plimsoll Line for people. Covetousness is not limited to non-believers. Greed is not limited to non-believers. Nor are the positives-contentment and character-limited to followers of Christ. There are so many distractions when choosing to be a follower of Christ. A lot of them are tied to “stuff.” When is enough enough? When is too much too much? How much money do we really need? How much public glory do we need to satisfy our ego?
I’ve titled my sermon for Sunday Traveling Light. I think you can see why. I needed this one. Maybe you do also. If you can’t make it the sermon will be on the church’s website. Thanks for your prayers.
In my blog today, Bill, Virginia shows she understands what it means to “travel light.” Praying for you!
Blessings!
I read it Martha. What great words of wisdom from Virginia Rose.
Love the title of your sermon, traveling light. If moving to a third would country taught me anything it’s that I can live without stuff. It was easy to do there because we were surrounded by those who had so much less. But here in the US…garages are full of stuff, yard sales are proof that we are over flowing with stuff. And I do believe it is from not being contend with what we have already and finding different ways to use what we already have. Oh I still buy new things once in a while but one trick I use to keep me from buying new is don’t go shopping. It works. This is going to be a great sermon Bill, will be praying for you brother.
Thanks Betty. You bring up a good point about what we have and what we can do without. Thanks for the prayers.
This is a reminder everyone in a first world country needs to hear… myself for sure.
Praying for you, Bill.
I’m reminding myself also Floyd