The Story of a Burden

    There was an old, hunched over man, carrying this very heavy, burlap bag over
his shoulders. I don't know how long he had carried it, but you could see the grooves
in his shoulders and calluses on his hands.
    This old man stopped to eat, and set his heavy bag down, next to the table, and
waited for the waitress to take his order.
    I asked if I could set down across from him, and he said OK. So I sat down and
we proceeded to talk. As I looked at him, I could tell, he wasn't as old as I thought,
just weathered by the sun and hard as nails.
   The waitress came and took our orders, and as we sat there drinking our coffee,
I asked where he was headed. He said that he didn't rightly know, just that he felt led
to come this way. I told him, I felt led to come this way also.
    I asked what he had in the sack, and he said that he couldn't recollect all that he
had in the sack, but he knew when he started carrying it wasn't so full or so heavy.
    I asked him, how long you been carrying that thing. His answer was, he never
remembered not carrying it.
    I didn't know why, because I don't ask, if God says go, I go. He lets me know
when to stop, like now.
    I asked the man if he'd like to leave without that heavy sack, at first he thought I
was going to rob him, but I reassured him I was not.
    I said I want you to give it to me, then you'll never have to carry it around anymore.
    We both finished eating, and paid our bills, and the old man picked up his heavy
sack again and walked away.
    We, Christians, are a lot like that old man. We've been washed in the waters of
baptism, filled with the Holy Spirit, yet we still carry the burden from before we 
were saved. Or even worse, we gave our burdens up when we were saved, and 
started awhole new set of burdens to drag around.
    Why?
    Jesus died on the cross for our burdens, He took all of them, past, present and
future, and paid for them with His precious blood. He died from that burden, but
on the third day after His death, He rose up out of that tomb, to give all of us power
 over our burdens, if we give them to Him.
    He has one simple request, lay your burdens at the foot of the cross, and walk 
away, let Him take care of them.
    The I, in the story is an angel, a messenger from God. The angel could be a person,
or not, that isn't important. What is important, is are we like that man with the 
heavy sack, or are we smart enough to not pick it up, and leave it at the cross.

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