Traveling Light: Releasing the Burdens You Were Never Intended to Bear

By Max Lucado

We're all weighed down by loads we were never intended to carry. With New York Times bestselling author and pastor Max Lucado as your guide, Traveling Light invites you to release some of those heavy burdens and experience true rest.

We've all seen weary travelers—everything they own crammed into their luggage, staggering through terminals and hotel lobbies with overstuffed suitcases, trunks, duffels, and backpacks. Backs ache. Feet burn. Eyelids droop. We can all be people like that—if not with our physical luggage, then at least with our spiritual load of guilt, discontentment, doubt, or loneliness.

Centered around the comforting, uplifting words of Psalm 23, Traveling Light will give you the encouragement and the tools you need to release the burdens of:

• Self-reliance
• Arrogance
• Hopelessness
• Disappointment
• Shame

There are certain weights in life that we simply aren't designed to carry, and Max reminds us that the Lord is asking you to set them down and trust him. He is the father at the baggage claim. When a dad sees his five-year-old son trying to drag the family trunk off the carousel, what does he say? The father will say to his son what God is saying to you.

"Set it down, child. I'll carry that one."

What if we took God up on his offer? We just might find ourselves traveling a little lighter.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Release date: Apr 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9781400242566

Max Lucado

Desde que entró en el ministerio en 1978, MAX LUCADO ha servido en iglesias de Miami, Florida; Río de Janeiro, Brasil; y San Antonio, Texas. Actualmente sirve como ministro de enseñanza de la Iglesia Oak Hills en San Antonio. Ha recibido el Premio Pinnacle 2021 de la ECPA por su destacada contribución a la industria editorial y la sociedad en general. Es el autor inspirador más vendido de Estados Unidos, con más de ciento cuarenta y cinco millones de productos impresos. Siga su sitio web en librosdelucado.com

Book preview

ALSO BY MAX LUCADO

INSPIRATIONAL

3:16

A Gentle Thunder

A Love Worth Giving

And the Angels Were Silent

Anxious for Nothing

Because of Bethlehem

Before Amen

Come Thirsty

Cure for the Common Life

Facing Your Giants

Fearless

Glory Days

God Came Near

Grace

Great Day Every Day

He Chose the Nails

He Still Moves Stones

Help Is Here

How Happiness Happens

In the Eye of the Storm

In the Grip of Grace

It’s Not About Me

Just Like Jesus

Max on Life

More to Your Story

Next Door Savior

No Wonder They Call

Him the Savior

On the Anvil

Outlive Your Life

Six Hours One Friday

The Applause of Heaven

The Great House of God

Traveling Light

Unshakable Hope

When Christ Comes

When God Whispers

Your Name

You Are Never Alone

You’ll Get Through This

You Were Made for This Moment

COMPILATIONS

Begin Again

In the Footprints of the Savior

Jesus

Start with Prayer

They Walked with God

FICTION

Christmas Stories

Miracle at the Higher Grounds Café

The Christmas Candle

BIBLES (GENERAL EDITOR)

Children’s Daily Devotional Bible

Grace for the Moment Daily Bible

The Lucado Encouraging Word Bible

The Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

A Max Lucado Children’s Treasury

Do You Know I Love You, God?

God Always Keeps His Promises

God Forgives Me, and I Forgive You

God Listens When I Pray

Grace for the Moment: 365 Devotions for Kids

Hermie, a Common Caterpillar

I’m Not a Scaredy Cat

Itsy Bitsy Christmas

Just in Case You Ever Wonder

Lucado Treasury of Bedtime Prayers

One Hand, Two Hands

Thank You, God, for Blessing Me

Thank You, God, for Loving Me

The Boy and the Ocean

The Crippled Lamb

The Oak Inside the Acorn

The Tallest of Smalls

Where’d My Giggle Go?

You Are Mine

You Are Special

YOUNG ADULT BOOKS

3:16

It’s Not About Me

Make Every Day Count

Wild Grace

You Were Made to Make a Difference

GIFT BOOKS

Fear Not Promise Book

For the Tough Times

God Thinks You’re Wonderful

Grace for the Moment

Grace Happens Here

Happy Today

His Name Is Jesus

Let the Journey Begin

Live Loved

Mocha with Max

Safe in the Shepherd’s Arms

This Is Love

You Changed My Life

Traveling Light

© 2001 Max Lucado.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

Thomas Nelson titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [e-mail].

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked CEV are taken from the Contemporary English Version. Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked TEV are from The Good News Bible: The Bible in Today’s English Version (TEV) © 1976 by the American Bible Society. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked JB are taken from The Jerusalem Bible. © 1966 by Darton Longman & Todd Ltd. and Doubleday and Company Ltd. Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version. Public domain. Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB). Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org Scripture quotations marked NEB are taken from the New English Bible. © Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press 1961, 1970. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.® Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NRSV are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible. Copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked PHILLIPS are from The New Testament in Modern English by J. B. Phillips. Copyright © 1960, 1972 J. B. Phillips. Administered by the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible. Copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-1-4002-4256-6 (eBook)

ISBN 978-1-4002-4295-5 (IE)

ISBN 978-1-4002-4004-3 (HC)

Epub Edition APRIL 2023 9781400242566

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lucado, Max.

Traveling light / by Max Lucado.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-8499-1345-7 (TP)

ISBN 978-0-8499-1297-9 (HC)

1. Christian life—Meditations. I. Title.

BV4501.3 .L86 2001

242—dc21

Information about External Hyperlinks in this ebook

Please note that the endnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication

To my dear friend Joey Paul,

celebrating thirty years of words at Word,

sharing the Word

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Acknowledgments

1: The Luggage of Life

2: The Middle C of Life: The Burden of a Lesser God

3: I’ll Do It My Way: The Burden of Self-Reliance

4: The Prison of Want: The Burden of Discontent

5: I Will Give You Rest: The Burden of Weariness

6: Whaddifs and Howells: The Burden of Worry

7: It’s a Jungle Out There: The Burden of Hopelessness

8: A Heavenly Exchange: The Burden of Guilt

9: Get Over Yourself: The Burden of Arrogance

10: I Will Lead You Home: The Burden of the Grave

11: When Mourning Comes: The Burden of Grief

12: From Panic to Peace: The Burden of Fear

13: Silent Nights and Solitary Days: The Burden of Loneliness

14: The Crowing Rooster and Me: The Burden of Shame

15: Slippery Sheep and Healed Hurts: The Burden of Disappointment

16: Jam Session: The Burden of Envy

17: God’s Loving Pursuit: The Burden of Doubt

18: Almost Heaven: The Burden of Homesickness

Conclusion

Notes

Study Guide

Acknowledgments

Here are well-deserved pats on some sturdy backs:

To Liz Heaney and Karen Hill—my editors and my assistant, midwives of the manuscript. Sorry I groaned so much.

To Steve and Cheryl Green—my representative and my friends. Because of you, contracts are read, and bills are paid, and this old boy sleeps well at night.

To Greg Pruett—Bible translator and Hebrew student. Thanks for the great insights.

To Eugene Peterson—Bible translator, author, and hero to many. Thanks for letting me use the title. And, much more, thanks for sharing your heart.

To Steve Halliday—study guide author par excellence.

To my friends at Thomas Nelson. Once again, you’re the best.

To Laura Kendall and Carol Bartley—the great sleuths of the English language. Thanks for making me look smart.

To Jenna, Andrea, and Sara—my delightful daughters. I couldn’t be prouder.

To Denalyn—my wife of four decades. Before you were born, where did poets go for inspiration?

To you—the reader. May the real Author speak to you.

And, most of all, to you, Jesus. The only reason we can release a burden is because you are there to take it. All the applause is yours.

ONE

The Luggage of Life

I’ve never been one to travel light.

I’ve tried. Believe me, I’ve tried. But ever since I stuck three fingers in the air and took the Boy Scout pledge to be prepared, I’ve been determined to be exactly that—prepared.

Prepared for a bar mitzvah, baby dedication, or costume party. Prepared to parachute behind enemy lines or enter a cricket tournament. And if, perchance, the Dalai Lama might be on my flight and invite me to dine in Tibet, I carry snowshoes. One has to be prepared.

I don’t know how to travel light.

Fact is, there’s a lot about travel I don’t know. I don’t know how to interpret the restrictions of a supersaver seat—half price if you leave on Wednesdays during duck-hunting season and return when the moon is full in a nonelection year. I don’t know why they don’t build the whole plane out of the same metal they use to build the little black box. I don’t know how to escape the airplane toilet without sacrificing one of my extremities to the jaws of the folding door. And I don’t know what to say to guys like the taxi driver in Rio who learned I was an American and asked me if I knew his cousin Eddie who lives in the US.

There’s a lot about traveling I don’t know.

I don’t know why we men would rather floss a crocodile than ask for directions. I don’t know why vacation slides aren’t used to treat insomnia, and I don’t know when I’ll learn not to eat food whose names I can’t pronounce.

But most of all, I don’t know how to travel light.

I don’t know how to travel without granola bars, sodas, and rain gear. I don’t know how to travel without flashlights and a generator and a global tracking system. I don’t know how to travel without an ice chest of wieners. What if I stumble upon a backyard barbecue? To bring nothing to the party would be rude.

Every travel-catalog company in the world has my credit-card number. I’ve got an iron that doubles as a paperweight, a hair dryer the size of a coach’s whistle, a Swiss Army knife that expands into a pup tent, and a pair of pants that inflate upon impact. (On one flight my wife, Denalyn, gave me a swat on the leg, and I couldn’t get out of my seat.)

I don’t know how to travel light. But I need to learn. Denalyn refuses to give birth to any more children even though the airlines allow each passenger three checked bags and two carry-ons.

I need to learn to travel light.

You’re wondering why I can’t. Loosen up! you’re thinking. You can’t enjoy a journey carrying so much stuff. Why don’t you just drop all that luggage?

Funny you should ask. I’d like to inquire the same of you. Haven’t you been known to pick up a few bags?

Odds are, you did this morning. Somewhere between the first step on the floor and the last step out the door, you grabbed some luggage. You stepped over to the baggage carousel and loaded up. Don’t remember doing so? That’s because you did it without thinking. Don’t remember seeing a baggage terminal? That’s because the carousel is not the one in the airport; it’s the one in the mind. And the bags we grab are not made of leather; they’re made of burdens.

The suitcase of guilt. A sack of discontent. You drape a duffel bag of weariness on one shoulder and a hanging bag of grief on the other. Add on a backpack of doubt, an overnight bag of loneliness, and a trunk of fear. Pretty soon you’re pulling more stuff than a skycap. No wonder you’re so tired at the end of the day. Lugging luggage is exhausting.

What you were saying to me, God is saying to you, Set that stuff down! You’re carrying burdens you don’t need to bear.

Come to me, he invites, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest (Matt. 11:28 NLT).

If we let him, God will lighten our loads . . . but how do we let him? May I invite an old friend to show us? The Twenty-third Psalm.

The LORD is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness

For His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the

shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

For You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of

my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil.

My cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD

Forever. (NKJV)

Do more beloved words exist? Framed and hung in hospital halls, scratched on prison walls, quoted by the young, and whispered by the dying. In these lines sailors have found a harbor, the frightened have found a father, and strugglers have found a friend.

And because the passage is so deeply loved, it is widely known. Can you find ears on which these words have never fallen? Set to music in a hundred songs, translated into a thousand tongues, domiciled in a million hearts.

One of those hearts might be yours. What kinship do you feel with these words? Where do the verses transport you? To a fireside? Bedside? Graveside?

Hardly a week passes that I don’t turn to them. This passage is to the minister what balm is to the physician. I recently applied them to the heart of a dear friend. Summoned to his house with the words "The