OK, here’s the story of my life in a couple of paragraphs. You might find it interesting, you might not – but there is a point to telling you.

Before I was a Writer, I was a Businessman. I must have been pretty good at it, because a few years ago I had come to a point where I didn’t need to do it any longer, and chose to simplify my life by moving out to the farm just to enjoy the family.

But I quickly found out that having everything paid for, only simplifies one’s life in certain ways. It’s still stuff, and you since you own it, you feel this obligation to use it. In fact if you have enough stuff it’s practically a full time job just maintaining it. And that’s before you even get to the really important stuff, like relationships.

When relationships are neglected, divorce is often times the outcome. Such was my case, and I had yet another opportunity to simplify my life, whether I wanted it or not. So after substantially divesting myself of the great majority of my worldly possessions, I felt like my life was about as simple as it could be.

Then I went to Guatemala.

I know it was only for eight days, yet somehow I survived without a car of my own, without microfiber covered furniture, without a cushy bed, without a TV, even without a cellphone. Amazing!

What was more amazing was how the Guatemalan people lived. Oh, I didn’t go into their houses and look through their drawers to see what they had – in fact, odds are many of them didn’t even have drawers. But you could tell they had very little. Some things they didn’t have, like enough food to eat and basic dental care, made their lives miserable. Other things they didn’t have just made their lives simple.

So when I came home to America, and to my house, I was instantly aware of how much stuff I owned. In some ways I was grateful. In other ways I felt like I had a whole new definition of what “simple” really means. There was a calling from deep within my spirit to lighten the load of material, worldly stuff.

So I took a quick inventory of everything I owned, even my treasured antiques, and my name brand tools (which take up an entire garage, and are seldom even used), and I discovered I had way too much stuff.

Our team member, nurse and delightful new friend, Stephanie Pena, is many steps ahead on this curve. She not only lightened her load of material possessions, but further simplified her life by rearranging her finances and quitting her job in order to be available to do medical missions work. Radical. Godly.

So I’m selling stuff. I’ve got ads and pictures up everywhere. An “estate sale” is happening very soon. (“estate” tells people you’ve got good stuff for sale, not old “garage sale” stuff). I’m even looking for a simpler place to live, meaning someplace that doesn’t cost so much.

And, yes, I realize this is sounding like the unraveling of the American Dream – going backwards. Please don’t be threatened. I am not standing in judgment of you or your lifestyle. That’s God’s job. I know many people who have great wealth in material things, and they don’t seem to care a pair of dingos kidneys one way or the other.

On the other hand, I know people, as I’m sure you do, too, who define their entire existence by what they own. As is common in an affluent community like Franklin, TN, I know a family of just three who live in a huge, new house that has more rooms than they can possibly occupy, and more TVs than they can possibly watch, and more yard than they can keep mowed (and not a square foot of it planted in corn or beans or anything else edible). In Guatemala, there would probably be six or seven families living in that house, and they would think they had all died and gone to heaven.

America truly is a very very wealthy country. And when this world ends, I think God will have some poignant things to say to America, but as I said above, that’s His job, not mine. So I will close this post with a saying I often heard as a child: “If the shoe fits, wear it.” Which in this case, means, if God’s Spirit is speaking to you, listen. And if it turns out He’s telling you that you have too many shoes to ever possibly wear, then give some of them away.