Today I moved out of my apartment. T'was a sad day for me, and since you've been following along on the sorting videos that Michelle and I have been posting about the sorting/packing process, I decided to do one last one to wrap it up. The camera didn't focus when I started it, so it's blurry...but I wasn't about to do it again, so you'll have to live with it. :)

Tomorrow, I will be having the yard sale of my life, and everything I own that I am not storing for sentimental reasons or taking with me to Germany will be displayed for all the world to see...and hopefully purchase. So until next week at this time, I will be up to my neck in boxes and decisions about what is really valuable enough to me to keep. It's been an interesting process--this sorting business. The last time I sorted through all my "stuff", most of it was charred or covered in ash from the fire that swept through my little apartment while I was in Germany in August of '06. As I sift through all my "stuff" again, two realizations come to mind.

First of all, I wonder how much more "stuff" I'd have to go through if that fire hadn't happened! Even two years ago, the Lord was already preparing me for this transition, and helping me to downsize in significant ways by essentially making some decisions for me about what needed to go and what I really didn't need.

Which leads me to the second realization. When this process is over, I will hopefully have eliminated over two-thirds of all that I've accumulated over the years. Granted, I'll be able to "re-stock" once I get over there, but for now, I will most likely be able to fit everything I own into a small SUV. :) The realization that I've had is simply the fact that there is really nothing...nothing...in this world, save the relationships that we have with each other and especially with Christ, Himself, that is not expendable.