I was in my fifth year of theology at Aquinas Institute/Saint Louis University when I felt a pain in my abdomen like I never had before. My seminarian brothers rushed me, with a lot of haphazard driving, to the Saint Louis University Hospital. Within a painful hour or so, the emergency room doctors and nurses determined that I was suffering from kidney stones. They also ascertained that they were small enough to pass naturally and gave me a device to try and capture them so they could be analyzed for their cause. I was never able to capture them, and a week or so later at a Friday night movie, one did exit much to the horror of the patron next to me in the men’s room!
It would be another ten years before I would be visited by my renal friends again as I was preparing a barbecue for our youth group here at Resurrection. Again, I was not able to capture one for analysis. My doctors told me they could be caused by diet, stress, dehydration, or a number of other factors.
Nearly five years ago, I suffered another visit from my stony interlopers. By then, one had grown quite large and required four hours of laparoscopic surgery to pulverize and remove. This time, we had more than enough samples. I remember awakening to the sound of the surgeon shaking these dark black rocks in a specimen container. They looked and sounded like marbles. Analysis revealed they were stones caused by too many oxalates in my diet. So I was advised to avoid food rich in oxalates like rhubarb (no problem at all), spinach, sweet potatoes, caffeine, and (worst of all) chocolate!
I will admit I was pretty rigorous in adhering to this plan at first but, as time wore on with no discernible episodes, I grew more lax. Well, this past Monday’s visit reminded me once again that rock solid discipline, so to speak, is what is required if I am to avoid another episode in two or three years’ time. I am similarly reminded that in so many other areas of our life, the challenge is to be steadfast and unwavering in our good deeds, in our prayer life, in our relationships, and in our personal routines. When that discipline is lacking, we can find ourselves truly stuck between a rock and a hard place!