Weighing The Cost

"Nothing is more practical than finding God, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, whom you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything." - Joseph Whelan, S.J.

Joseph Whelan, S.J. was a Jesuits priest who gave an address in 1981 that included the quote above. It is an hopeful, compelling declaration of love and vocation but is it wisdom?

My personal experience is that as my devotion to God has increased, my life has become more difficult and complicated, not clearer as the prose above proclaims. Wrestling, not resting is more the norm when it comes to spiritual matters and much discernment is required to honor my promise to God made many years ago. Yet, this shouldn't be a surprise. Jesus was pretty clear that if you chose to follow Him, life was going to become difficult, full of persecution and dividing those who love God from those who don't. Check out Jesus's words in three encounters with people expressing their desire to follow Him. (Luke 9: 56-62)

The Prison Break That Wasn't

Paul in the Bible lived a life radically different than his life before giving his life to Jesus Christ. Paul, or Saul as he was known before his encounter with God, was a man of means, a man of destiny, a man of influence and who made it his life work to eradicate the Jewish zealots who were threatening Roman rule in what is now Israel.

Then after his conversion we see a different man, a man now on a mission for His Savior, a man who made it his life work to spread the gospel of Jesus throughout the world. This same man who hunted down Christians now is starting churches throughout Asia. This man who worked at the pleasure of the Emperor of Rome would later be thrown in a Roman jail at the request of that same Emperor. What an exchange we witness in the book of Acts! Everything he was, he was no more. His passion, his priorities, his citizenship, everything changed after meeting Jesus Christ.

Summer Storm

Like a summer storm
You blew into my town
Stealing love from perfect strangers

Then you glanced my way
Moment sealed with your kiss
And I can still recall the feeling

You had the perfect smile
To go with the perfect words
My heart was filled with your wonder

You said, "Let's go live our dreams"
Won't hold nothing back
I'll be yours in every season

Like a summer storm
Out of nowhere you were born
Changing everything that you touched

Full of fury and grace
The way you touched my face
And my world was changed forever

The Inventor of Coca-Cola

Today's post is about the inventor of Coca-Cola, John Pemberton. John spent most of his childhood in Rome, Georgia before entering Medical College and earning his medical degree in 1850. After a brief stint practicing medicine and surgery, Dr. Pemberton opened up a drug store in Columbus, Georgia.

Then came the Civil War and Pemberton enlisted, serving in the Third Calvary for the Confederate Army. In 1865 he suffered a saber wound to the chest during the Battle of Columbus. During his recovery he became addicted to the morphine that he was using to ease his pain. This started Pemberton on a desperate search for an alternative to morphine that would allow him to cure his addiction.