Pitching The Tent For Worship in Your Own Heart
I’m not a big, outdoorsy, guy. So, camping out was never something I really enjoyed, except for this one time. Me and my best friend, Mark, had a great “fort” in the woods near our apartment complex in Orlando when I was about 11 or 12. Being central Florida,...
My Eager Expectation And Hope!
What if every time you turn around, no matter what happens, it ends up helping you? It seemed like it was one of those days. All the traffic lights were green. Even the cars in front of me were moving along at a good speed. My favorite song came...
Don’t Get Jesus Wrong!
At a recent spiritual retreat, I was asked to conduct, I was asked how one should prepare to deal with questions about the faith when others ask about it. Usually, many of our Orthodox brothers and sisters get very nervous when somebody asks them about our Orthodox Faith. It’s a good question,...
Are You Sure?
"You sure are sure of yourself." She said it like it was a bad thing to be confident and act on that confidence. And it really confused me, until a wiser man pulled me off to the side and told me that confident people make people who lack confidence...
We Need The Lord
Several years ago there was a song that was popular on Christian radio stations that still strikes me as a powerful reminder of a central truth: People Need the Lord. "Every day they pass me by, I can see it in their eyes. Empty people filled with care. Headed who...
He Is For Us!
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." The quote has been described as an Arabic proverb, but more likely it comes from advice given in India by a leader who died under mysterious circumstances. This attitude that my enemy's enemy is my ally has been used countless times in...
Are You Missing the Point?
A quote attributed to Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, sums up our challenges with missing the point: "I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant." The truth is,...
The Liturgy As Spiritual Warfare
Paradox Is A Feature, Not A Bug!
Science struggles with paradox. In fact, our whole Western philosophy since the Enlightenment (so-called) has fought against the very idea of paradox. We want things in our world neat and in order. We want to be able to predict how our world will behave, and we want, above all,...
Faithfulness Means a Disciplined Tongue!
“Salt makes people thirsty. People are thirsting for more of God’s word. We are the salt, the salt of the earth!” I remember hearing that song as a teenager and thinking “so THAT’S what that means!” Jesus did call we Christians the “salt of the earth” and in His days...