For those who don't know, my wife and I live on a boat. Well, for most of the year we live on our 32' Carver, Aft-Cabin Motor-Yacht. At least that is what the tag on the helm calls Knotta-Shore-Thing, our home on the lake. We rent a condo in the winter but our floating fiberglass is our home most of the year. We actually sold our dirt dwelling house (that's what we call you land lover's homes) and moved onto the boat about seven years ago. When we did so we went from about 1,800 square feet of living space to about 400. Our Salon ("living room" for you nautically challenged) is about the size of most bathrooms. When we made the final move we had to "toss overboard" most of our possessions. There just isn't room for King size beds and Lazy-boy chairs on 400 square foot boat. We had to either give it away, sell it or leave it behind. We made a choice to "dis-possess" ourselves for a life style we enjoyed. In many ways that is what God demands from those who follow Him. Do you remember the disciples who "left" their nets and boats in the water to follow Christ (Matthew 4:22)? Or, do you remember Christ's words to deny self and all to follow Him (Matthew 16:24)? Abraham was asked to leave his home behind to follow God. He did, however, take most of his possessions (Genesis 12:5). Abraham didn't leave everything behind. And, along his journey he actually gained more possessions (12:16). It seems that in the case of the disciples leaving it all behind was required but in Abraham's case he was abel to take the Lazy Boy (might have been hard to carry across the wilderness, however). We each have a different situation but in all of them we must not be so attached to the possessions that we fail to hold on to the One who calls us. Later in our reading we will see that Lot didn't want to leave things behind (Genesis It is okay for us to possess things but we should never allow the things to possess us.
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