"You are so blessed!" Those were the words said to the lady who had just gotten a big raise at work! And, it was true. But there is a danger here. In many cultures and even religions, the idea that to be rich is to be favored by God is...
Platitudes can be absolutely infuriating when you're suffering. And, usually, a person in pain hears things like "Oh, just trust God" or "into each life a little rain must fall" as uncaring dismissals of their very real heartache. To be sure, most folks mean well, but deep in their own...
Ever heard someone say "I'm hoping for the best, but expecting the worst?" Yeah, me too. In fact, I've said it! And the truth is it's never happened, the worst I mean. That thing that I've feared the most has never happened. And yet, isn't it amazing how our...
Give the Gift of Eternity this Christmas! Here's Fr. Barnabas talking about his new book "A Faith Encouraged" with Bobby Maddex - http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/exlibris/a_faith_encouraged Here's a tool you can use to keep your faith active between Sundays. It's also available as an eBook at Orthodox Christian Ebooks - http://www.orthodoxchristianebooks.com/a-faith-encouraged This makes a great...
I love to eat. And what makes matters worse, what I love to eat is all the "comfort foods" I grew up with as a child. If you know anything about Southern cooking, you know we love to fry things! Anything! Everything! But the longer I live and the more...
A great quote today: "We're often afraid of looking at our shadow because we want to avoid the shame or embarrassment that comes along with admitting mistakes." Shame is a powerful motivator in our lives. We feel shame at failures or bad choices and we try to hide that shame...
Let's face it, we live in a society that has exalted radical uncertainty to a virtue. Where the "really sophisticated" people pride themselves on being able to "see all sides" of an issue without ever coming down clearly on a position. The modern thinkers fear being labeled "fundamentalists" or...
"I'm sorry, I don't believe you." With that, I watched as our suspect in a series of robberies squirmed in his interrogation seat. My chief of detectives was a master at this kind of questioning, and all our evidence showed this man was the one who had been breaking...
I love action movies, but I confess, sometimes, my ability to suspend my disbelief and go along with some outlandish scene is pretty near impossible. Usually, the idea that something like this could really happen is just too remote even for my imagination. Sometimes we Christians fall into the same...
A recent election saw one politician insist that the supporters of the other politician were a "a basketful of deplorables." Well, of course, the other side jumped all over that and insisted that they weren't all deplorables! Ah, politics, what a sport! But what's the dividing line between the acceptables...
