At the risk of really dating myself with this movie reference, I remember the movie “Love Story” and the famous line from the film “love means never having to say you’re sorry.” Hey, it was the early 70’s and we were just coming out of the tumultuous 60’s. We needed a bit of...
Paul Tillich once said, “Doubt is not the opposite of faith; it is one element of faith.” Interesting! In reading the Psalms, I encounter such true life and even great heroes of the faith questioning God or struggling with momentary doubt about God and His plan. The Psalmist struggled with watching the...
If you could know the future, would you want to? I mean, really; if you could know the exact moment of your death, would you want that information? Knowing the future has been a preoccupation for we humans forever! I remember riding in the backseat of a car with...
Being in the room when my daughters were born was an unforgettable experience. Of course, I was a spectator. It was my wife that was doing all the work! And it wasn’t always a “fun” experience. In fact, I was “invited” to experience some of that pain while holding...
Dear Faith Encouraged Family, Fr. Barnabas leaves this Saturday to attend and present at the 2nd International Conference on Digital Media and Orthodox Pastoral Care to be held in Chania, Crete, Greece June 18-21. (www.dmopc18.com) This conference draws on an international representatives from several Orthodox Local Churches as well as representatives...
Debt is a prison. Just ask anyone still paying Federal School Loans. The truth is the modern phenomenon of Student Loans is a ticking time bomb in our economy as more and more people find a sense of hopelessness in ever escaping the burden of paying for higher education. But...
On August 28, 1963, Baptist minister and civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the mall in Washington, D.C. In it he uttered the equally famous line “Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we’re free at last.”...
All my life, I’ve dreamed of having some kind of superhero power. When I was a boy, I wanted to be like Superman and have the ability to run around the world really fast and pick up trucks and stop speeding bullets. “Why,” you may ask. Because it’s cool!...
“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found. Was blind, but now I see.” I can still hear my grandmother singing that song when I was just a little boy. It’s almost one of the earliest memories I...
