You’ve seen the bumper sticker “Practice Random Acts of Kindness.” I confess I’ve seen them all over and my reaction to this altruistic admonition ranges (depending on my mood) from mild annoyance to a twinge of guilt. But rarely does this bumper sticker psychology move me to action. But, hey,...
Acts 9:10-19 In those days, there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire in the house of...
My girls love when I do this. Well, not really, but they do laugh. Sometimes, when we are all in the car, just driving down the road, everybody minding their own business. The conversation has lagged and the music on the radio is boring, when no one expects, I’ll holler...
It’s amazing how perspectives change as you get older. When I was a kid in elementary school, we boys were absolutely convinced that the girls had cooties! Of course, we had no idea what “cooties” were, but if the girls had them then that meant we needed to be as...
In the beginning, God said… And with that action, God has been using speaking and hearing to start the process of metanoia (repentance) in the hearts of those who have “ears to hear.” There are so many examples of this pattern of God’s actions that there are too many to...
There was a stunning article in the January 2013 issue of Boston Magazine. It was entitled “Losing Our Religion” and the article begins by telling the story of a mother and her 9-year-old son watching a procession of the faithful from the Greek Orthodox church across the street from their...
“Reality, What a Concept!” Of course, this is a flippant way we moderns have dealt with the struggle of all of humanity through the centuries with our own existence. Whole religions have developed around the idea that all of this life is unreal, suffering is unreal, existence is unreal. And...
“Did you hear…” That’s the beginning of a moment that rarely turns out good! And that’s because this is usually the beginning of a conversation that is more gossip than true. But we do love to gossip, don’t we? Unfortunately, there are real consequences to spreading stories, especially when those...
It is said that Aristotle once declared “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” And yet, St. Basil taught that the most terrifying thing for a man to do was to look into the “abyss” of his own soul. It seems one of the most important activities of one’s...
Every parent has heard themselves say this at one time or another: “If you two don’t stop bickering, I’ll stop this car and punish you both!” I mean, surely I’m not the only one! Please tell me I’m not the only dad that has threatened this! Seriously, as parents, we...