Religion

Growing pains are showing all around me. In all the various stages of life that my kids are in, each one is being forced to let go of what is behind to forge on toward what lies ahead. Growing up isn’t necessarily something that happens against our will--it just gradually pours us into a new mold to be shaped in different ways. It’s bittersweet. Sometimes it’s even painful to grow and change and say goodbye to what we once recognized as the way life works. But growing up is necessary and good.

The city of Ephesus was surrounded by pagan worship. As the capital of the Roman province of Asia, it was a vital commercial center of the Roman Empire. It has been estimated that there were nearly fifty temples dedicated to various gods. Among them stood the famous Temple of Diana (Artemis), the fertility goddess, which was recognized as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Thanks to the internet and the wealth of information at our fingertips, there are very few facts in this world that can’t be learned. We can read things that people wrote thousands of years ago, and we can read things that people wrote this morning, and in all of it, we can know a great many things. We can watch documentaries and listen to podcasts, view great art, hear the most complicated and beautiful music ever written, learn the history of rock n roll, and discover what Elvis’ favorite lunch was. There is really no end to the facts and theories and ideas that we can be exposed to. But one thing we can’t know for sure is what’s going to happen tomorrow.