I've noticed that some folks appreciate straight talk and some folks don't. In fact, there seem to be whole cultures where plain talk is discouraged because certain cultures consider it rude. I've seen this reality play out with different concepts about honesty as well. A friend of mine told me...
He was a canny businessman. He actually took real pleasure in knowing he had gotten the better of his business associates in deals, in negotiations, and in life. He seemed to know just when to strike and just the right words to say to get his way and get...
SONY DSC Faith is something we humans take for granted. We seem to just assume that we “have” faith or we “keep” the faith merely by wanting to do so, but is that true faith? Is faith something we simply “think” about and so we “have” it? I don’t know about you but this seems to lead us to...
Isaac Newton once said "Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things." How I resonate with that. Simplicity is the enemy of confusion and chaos. I'll never forget the story of a Third world visitor to the US being overwhelmed...
"Do you pray to Zeus?" What? Yep, the lady was serious when she found out I was a Greek Orthodox priest, she wondered if we prayed to Zeus! Holy Moly! "No, ma'am" I said. "We are lovers of Jesus Christ, and actually we are the first Christians." She was...
It doesn't make sense. Jesus says some difficult things in His teachings and the Church continues this "challenge" to our intellect. The Lord says things like "If you want to be free, be a slave." And "If you want to live, you have to die." And even "If you...
Let me state something that may be easily misunderstood, but something I am increasingly convinced has to be said and said often: Jesus Christ left us ONE THING - The Church. The Church IS the Body of Christ and is the continued Physical Presence of Jesus Christ in the...
Alexander Solzhenitsyn once said, “We always pay dearly for chasing after what is cheap.” I wish I had learned this earlier in my life. I would have avoided some painful idolatries. But we humans are slow learners. And over and over again we come to the end of what we...
"I need to speak with your supervisor." The customer service lady on the other end of the line could tell I was frustrated. I had already called several times to find out why what I had ordered had not been delivered. First they told me it had been delivered....
I remember thinking "We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto." It was one of those moments in our journey to Orthodoxy that caused my soul to say "Aha." A point of enlightenment about just how profound our newfound, and ancient faith was going to be for how I thought about...
