“Rather than trusting God to supply our needs, we get caught in the frenzy of accumulation.”

A thought by Darren Whitehead and Jon Tyson, (2011-07-19) in their book, Rumors of God: Experience the Kind of Faith You´ve Only Heard About (Kindle Locations 539-540). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

This act of accumulation comes into reality when you are in need of getting a U Haul truck to move your stuff. I mean when we were moving after 15 years in Las Vegas to a much smaller house on Long Island we had garage sales for three weeks straight and we had the garbage truck guys on retainer. We gave stuff away on moving day and we had to rent the largest trailer to go behind the largest truck that U Haul had. With two families we also drove three cars with the truck and trailer for a combined total of over 10,000 miles (2,500 + per vehicle). We had too much stuff and we still do.

We are back to the same thing. Margaret and I will be moving to Seminole, Florida and Andrew and Stef into Manhattan the first of the year. The U Haul truck won’t need to be as big but it will be big enough. Someone said that three moves is equal to one fire and some people here on Long Island have lived in the same house for 30, 40, 50 years. All I wonder is where do they keep all their stuff?

Did you know that the first self-storage unit appeared in the 60’s and that there are now over 60,000 facilities? Nearly 50,000 of them are in the United States. There is more than 2.35 billion square feet of self-storage in the U. S., or a land area equivalent to three times Manhattan Island under roof. What is this love affair that we have with stuff?

And this brings me around to the quote by Darren Whitehead and Jon Tyson, “Rather than trusting God to supply our needs, we get caught in the frenzy of accumulation”.

At our church, Forefront Church of NYC we are going the next three Sundays to do what we can to help those in need at the Bowery Mission here in Manhattan. This Sunday we are to bring our excess shoes, next Sunday it’s pants and shirts and then the last Sunday coats. Somehow we need to understand that we may be the answer to the prayers of some who don’t have enough. Somehow God would want those of us who have too much to help those who don’t have enough.

Our worth does not come from what we have but from what He did for us. Let’s be the answer of the prayers of those who are in need.

How much stuff is too much?

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