"He's a liar!" Yep, he sure is, and his actions send ripples throughout his life and the lives of so many others.
We were discussing a politician we both knew. But, here's the rub; this politician held many of the same values and positions we both felt strongly about. However, this politician had been caught in…
Fr. Barnabas Powell
If you've spent any time with me at all, you know I'm a big fan of asking the "WHY" question when it comes to our motivations for living. In fact, I'm convinced that no one sticks with a pattern of life that is effective without really understanding WHY it is effective.
Getting to your "WHY"…
Fr. Alexander Schemann once said "The greatest charge against a Christian is that he has no joy." Frankly, the normal Christian faith is incompatible with a life without joy. It is specifically joy, regardless of the outward circumstances that should be the "normal" Christian life.
Now I know what you're going to say: "But father,…
Nelson Mandela once said "I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." This is so true. I've found too many people who think that because they feel fear, they are not…
When I get discouraged, I can always trace it back to a loss of perspective. I mean, it's inevitable. My challenges give me tunnel vision and I lose the ability to see beyond my own immediate pain.
By the way, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be. It becomes a bad thing…
They say there is a point of absolute clarity when a person is facing their own mortality. We've heard it all before; "Your life flashes before your eyes." Of course, this is a moment in human life we humans regularly avoid thinking about. Our mortality isn't something we like to dwell on. And yet, it…
OK, it's a great scene: Indiana Jones and his dad have reached the cave where they believe the Holy Grail has been hidden. But, to get to the treasure Indy has to pass some tests. As he approaches the first test, he remembers the words of warning "Only the penitent man will pass." As he…
"How can it be wrong when it feels so right?" Probably one of the most overused lines in the history of mankind right before someone does something really stupid! Yeah, I know, I've said it myself!
So, why is it we humans get ourselves into messes like this? Simple, we let our heart be our…
An ancient Roman writer once said "I have often regretted my speech, never my silence."
I confess that has been a hard lesson for me, personally. Once, when someone asked me "Why do you talk so much?" I responded "Because the sound of my voice comforts me!" As a big smile came on both our…
One of the human parables of every human culture on earth is the warning against pride. As the scriptures declare " pride goes before a fall."
And it seems that each human tribe has a multitude of stories that prove that truth over and over again. Once such story from my own Southern family was…