"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 the screaming commenced again. She tried…
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 of them are a bit shocked…
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 a friend and passing one of…
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 the hand of my bride during…
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 a sense of indebtedness isn't…
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." These words still stir my heart…
One of the questions I get often from parents trying to raise children in a society and culture that seems to have been reduced to sand. This reduction has occurred as we moderns have allowed the deconstruction of timeless wisdom preserved for centuries, all in the name of being relevant or even "compassionate."
My answer…
I was talking to someone the other day and we were discussing a fairly important subject when it dawned on me "We are not really speaking the same language." It frustrated me and, I confess, I was at a loss as to how to bridge this gap in our understanding each other. You see, this…
What struck me was his strong, silent presence even in the face of chaos and tragedy. Here we were, dealing with the human tragedy and destruction of the aftermath of a hurricane. We were there as clergy to help people. We were moving through the American Red Cross "tent city" and it was set up…
"Hey, I know that boy. I've known him my whole life. Who does he think he is?" I confess, it hurt a bit. You see, I was preaching one of my first "sermons" and some "friend" of the family who had, actually, known me and my parents since I was a baby, was a bit…