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I handed a heavy carry-on bag to my new friend. For the first time in my life, I walked off an airplane with nothing to carry! I can't tell you what freedom I felt. Only moments later a stranger recognized me in the airport. He asked, "Dr. Schuller, may I have your autograph?"

My hands were free to oblige, so I said, "Surely! I'd be delighted." Because I had no bags to carry, I was free to be friendly. I didn't realize how restrained I had been by my own baggage. I didn't know how heavy my luggage was until I stopped carrying it.

My first trip to Jerusalem was nearly a quarter of a century ago. I was so shocked when I saw human beings carrying enormous loads on their back. Humans carried huge posts on their back that were probably ten feet long. They walked bent-backed under their enormous loads. I learned that these people were called burden-bearers. I remembered reading about them in the Bible, for the Bible is full of burden-bearing.

I first visited Korea twenty years ago. Again, I saw human beings using their bodies to carry huge collections of loads on their backs. One farmer in Korea was walking home at the end of a day, ahead of his oxen. The farmer was carrying the plow. It was a big heavy plow. Behind him trod the oxen.

I said to my guide, "Why is that farmer carrying that plow? Why doesn't he let the ox carry it for him?"

"Oh," my Korean host said, "The ox has worked so faithfully all day that the farmer will carry the plow home for him.'' Burdens, loads. Everybody has them.

One of my favorite Bible verses is found in I Peter 5:7, "Casting all your care on Him, for He cares for you."

What luggage are you carrying along? How long have you been carrying it? And why don't you accept the offer of relief that God gives you'?

I remember a beautiful member of this church. I buried her husband fifteen years ago. About ten years after the funeral, I met her one day at the church, and I said, "How are you doing?"

"Oh, she said, "Not so good. I just came back."

I said, "From where'?"

"The cemetery. I go every week.''

I was shocked, "What are you saying'?''

"Oh," she said, "I can't get over it, Dr. Schuller." And then she started crying. I gave her a hug and just held her. Then I said, "You buried him ten years ago. Now it's time to bury the funeral service."

She came in to see me. To make a long story short, we buried her grief after ten years! If she could be here today, she'd say, I didn't know how heavy my luggage was until I stopped carrying it. After she freed herself from her mourning, she blossomed into one of our most valued volunteers. What a worker she is! What a volunteer! All because she became FREE to give.

Sufferings, sorrows, setbacks these are all burdens that we need to learn to let go of. The name Richard Neutra is well-known amongst architects throughout the world. He was the architect of the Tower of Hope on this campus. I asked him one day, "Richard, have you had any disappointments in life?"

"Yes, I have."

I said, "What are they?"

He paused for a long time. Finally he said, " First of all, I have never received the recognition that I feel I deserve from my own profession. I have received gold medals from the President of the United States. I have received gold medals from Japan, Austria, Germany and Switzerland. but the American Institute of Architects has never recognized my work.''

"Why not?"

"Well," he replied, "I think it's because I'm from California, and some of the people in the East have a prejudice against the art that comes out of California.''

He died and I had his funeral. Seven years later, he was given the gold medal by the American Institute of Architects. But he lived and carried the snub, the slight all of his life. He never, ever, could let go of that luggage.

There are the sufferings, setbacks, slaps, insults. Some of you were insulted by your first grade teacher, seventh grade teacher, high school teacher, college teacher, maybe your first spouse, maybe your present mate, maybe a child, maybe a parent. Oh, the secrets, the shame that you hope nobody ever discovers. There are sins that you've never asked Jesus Christ to forgive. You don't know how heavy they are. You don't know how they block your creativity, how they choke the flow of healthy enthusiasm.

Casting all your care on Him, for He cares for you.

We built a thirteen story tower on this campus. We put a ninety foot cross at the top. Why? Because we wanted to tell our community that "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life "

There is only one leader of any faith in history that has scars in both palms and claimed that He was sent to earth by God with the authority to forgive people of their sins. Let Him pick up your luggage.

I have a beautiful work of art on the wall of my study. It is a painting of Christ praying in Gethsemane. When I look at it, I imagine Him praying, "Oh God, do I have to carry this luggage?" He's in agony.

I imagine God replying, " Please, do it for all the sins of the world."

Then I look at the other painting that also hangs in that office. It's a picture of Freedom. Freedom is a golden eagle who was found on December 30, 1980 by an Iowa farmer in a snowy field. The farmer saw him there, flopping in the snow. He had been shot in a wing, wounded and left to die by a hunter.

The farmer picked up this wounded bird. Wing tip to wing tip, he was six feet in breadth. This beautiful, soaring eagle, lay wounded, broken in wing. The farmer had heard about the Raptor Clinic connected with the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, The next day, the bird was taken there. Thirteen months later, that bird, was flown to Washington, D. C. on the occasion of the hostages being released from Iran. Freedom became the symbol that you can be free again.

From there, he was brought to Preston, Wisconsin. He was released, and his wings at first slowly, awkwardly, like weights, moved through the air. He lifted his feet behind him and soon he was sailing and soaring.

You can have freedom from the anguish, the vengeance, the hurt, the hostility, the insults, the sufferings, and the sins. Casting all your care on Him, for He cares for you.

Let Us Pray: O God, sometimes loads that seem light, are a lot heavier than we realize. We thank you, Lord, that You have come, through Jesus Christ, to be our friend, our Savior, our burden-bearer. Hallelujah! Amen