Wireless Printers and Harp Strumming

So.
I got a wireless printer for Christmas...this printer sells for $150 normally and was on sale for $100.00 when it was purchased. However , it would have taken a computer tech to install it...and in fact it DID. When both my father (a retired I.T. director) and my husband (a computer savant) looked at the directions and said it was beyond the scope of their abilities, I knew it was time to call in a professional.

So I called the guy who recently replaced the LCD screen on my laptop. He came over and discovered early in the process of installing the computer that we had network problems...which took him close to two hours to solve. Then add the half hour that it really took to install the printer and I came up with a whopping bill close to three times the cost of the printer.

AND I discovered (or rather HE discovered) that our PC has a virus and therefore the printer would not work with it.

But in the end, I am happy with the result.
Yeah it was really expensive...But I got what I wanted. I can click "print" on my laptop and out in the living room, I can hear the printer begin to do it's thing.

It's all about perceived value right?
I mean, $400 to buy and hook up a printer, seems absurd...until you balance it against the giant pain-in-the-butt that it has been not to have a printer at all for these months. Then suddenly, that price seems not so bad.

I guess Christianity is a lot like that.
The price of being a Christian can be enormous...in many countries it will cost you everything you have and maybe your life too.
And even in this country, it can bring you mockery and giving up all of the "fun" things that God says are just wrong....including the "right" to "justifiable" anger and the "right" to pride that we, as mankind, so highly treasure.
The IS a cost. Jesus told us to "count the cost" before undertaking the journey.
Soon, in this country, there will be an even higher price to following Him.

So, what justifies this high price?
What benefit does it offer that could possibly make such suffering justifiable?

Well, it all depends on how much you love him and look forward to seeing him.
And it really all depends on how much you know about Heaven.
Honestly, the popular beliefs about Heaven would make me want to run the other direction rather than to suffer in order to attain it. Floating around on a cloud, strumming a harp, just doesn't appeal to me that much. And honestly, neither does eternal life. I mean, if I had to float and strum forever and ever...well, please, just let me decompose in peace!

However, Heaven is NOTHING like that. The books of Randy Alcorn have helped me to understand more fully what awaits us; what the Bible REALLY says about what God has in store for His children. And I want those two things: being with Him and to live in His Heaven--so badly that I would do anything, I think...pay any price. And the reward is so valuable , that any price paid will seem reasonable, even small in order to obtain it.