Back when I was between the ages of eight and eleven years old, I was addicted to soda. If you’re a true Ohian you call it “pop”. If you’re cool like people in New England you call it “soda”. 😉
Much like Forrest Gump when he met JFK, every day “I must’ve drank me about five or six Dr. Peppers”. Forrest drank fifteen in one day! But seriously- I drank pop. I liked Dr. Pepper, Mr. Pibb, Mountain Dew, Jolt Cola, Pepsi, Coke, Pepsi Clear (remember that?), Fanta Orange, Fanta Grape, Faygo Red Pop. I loved it all.
And as a result, I ended up having a total of nine cavities, two root canals, and two teeth pulled from cists above them. These were all baby teeth fortunately. And even more fortunately, my Mom worked as a receptionist at the dentist during much of that time! We needed her employee discount and our insurance to cover this decaying metal mouth that I developed.
I wouldn’t recommend over-drinking soda. I don’t ever drink it now- just coffee and tea with milk and honey in em, in moderation. I’ve got only one small cavity now in my adult teeth.
But when it comes to the presence of God, like Forrest Gump did with Dr. Peppers, we should go ahead and overdo it! C.S Lewis wrote;
“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
We’re looking at Luke 12:1-12 and how much better it is to be fixated on Jesus more than anything in our lives. The last time I spoke to my Grandma, while she was in the hospital and dying, she told me “Ben, follow the Word of the Lord, and believe it more than the Word of man.” That sums it up! I hope I honor her words all the days of my life on earth.
And it also sums up what Jesus was saying in Luke 12:1-12.
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