Recently I was blessed to be able to attend the 2nd Annual Ancient Faith Writing and Podcasting conference at Antiochian Village in Bolivar, PA. As I reflect on these few days with some old friends and many new friends, I'm reminded of a saying: "To be inspired is great,...
OK, I'm a bit of an Eagles fan, and when they released their first CD after years of being apart, I jumped at it! The CD was called "Hell Freezes over" and was named that because one of the guys said that would be the time the Eagles all...
We were talking in Bible study recently about "First Principles." It seems this is something we so rarely consider, but if we miss fundamental truths, we always end up in places we never intended to go. For instance, if you don't build your life on the fundamental truth that when...
"Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done." All through my life I've heard that we should "count" our blessings. If we would do this, we would be protected against falling into the "pit of despair" and we would be...
"Petulant child!" That's what I thought as an obviously frantic mother was trying to placate a toddler throwing a fit. Nothing seemed to work. He didn't want the toy, then he did want the toy. The treat mom tried to give the boy was accepted then thrown down and...
Paul Tillich once said "Doubt is not the opposite of faith; it is one element of faith." Interesting! As a priest, I have folks regularly come to me struggling with doubt. Some are in great distress, thinking their momentary doubt has "offended" God, or undone all their spiritual efforts. Everyone...
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...
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."...
