I am going to make a confession. Yes, on the world-wide-web, where hundreds of people read my words every week. I know, not smart, but here goes. I am a procrastinator. There - I said it. How many of you have started something only to find that you either have no time or no energy or just no inclination to finish it. I could not even begin to tell you how many projects (we'll call them that for lack of a better word) I have put away (or thrown away) because I just got tired of them. I remember one dress I was making that I threw away simply because I couldn't get the zipper in right. I tried three times and I got so frustrated I finally just threw it in the trash. (Can't wait until my husband reads this one!) Oh well, they say confession is good for the soul. (Who comes up with these sayings anyway?) Oh, I always have the best of intentions when I start something new. My plans are to finish every single project I start. And when I fail, I always have a good reason why I can't complete the task, the best of which is to blame it on someone else. But, in reality, I usually have only myself to blame. Most of the time I didn't think it through to completion before I started. Let me give you an example: When my dad died, I wanted to take care of my mother. Mom couldn't drive, she was practically helpless so it was a good and noble thought on my part. I had no siblings to help me so I offered to let her move a mobile home on the lot I owned beside my house. My mother and I had never especially gotten along good since the day I was born. Somehow, I believed that, with her being dependent on me, this would change. No forethought - I did not count the cost. In the next twelve years I learned a very important lesson.

In the scripture above, Jesus taught one of the most important lessons in the Bible but you seldom here it read or taught. If you do not forsake all you have, you cannot be His disciple. You can't get any plainer than that. He said it, I didn't. So many go into Christianity with their eyes closed and then they wonder why they are struggling. When you come to Jesus, you come with all your baggage and you leave empty of yourself but full of Him. You leave everything at His feet and let Him take care of it. That is a hard lesson to learn - it took me a while. I kept going back and wanting to pick some of it back up. But I learned on down the road that He is more than able to take care of my baggage. We must count the cost, salvation is free but there are some things God demands you give up for Him if you are going to live for Him. There are some commandments we must follow if we are going to follow Christ. Now, He doesn't mean that you are actually supposed to hate your mom and dad and all your other relatives. You're just supposed to love Him more. He is first in your life. If you have counted the cost of living for Him, you know that He comes before anything or anyone else. Many come to Him with the intention of living for Him but will you be the one who counts the cost and follows through?