Barnabas Powell's Blog, page 166
December 5, 2017
An Offer You Shouldn’t Refuse
I looked out at the congregation and said “If Kmart had a Blue Light special like this, they’d sell out in a minute.” Of course you don’t know what a “blue light special is. You may not even remember KMart! Suffice it to say it was a marketing trick that a store use to use to draw attention to special deals they had in their store. And my reference was to the…
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December 4, 2017
Kept Under Restraint
One of the most difficult realities I’ve had to face as an adult, as a priest, as a husband, and as a father is the waking up to the reality of the complexity of each human person I encounter, including myself. This continuous process of discovery has me regularly seeing places of spiritual progress and immaturity in my heart first of all. All leading to the unmistakable conclusion that the taming of…
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December 1, 2017
Just A Consumer?
We really have succumbed to such a consumerist mindset that the Pavlovian trigger of “sale” actually has us queuing up outside the “box” retailers to wait in the cold to get a slip of paper that gives us permission to purchase a product at a particular price so we will “have” the product. One begins to wonder if we “have” the product, or does the “product” have us? On the other…
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November 30, 2017
True Fathers
So, why is it so easy to take advice from a stranger, but not your own family? Alright, I’ll confess to being a bit frustrated. Here’s the story: I had a dear family member bend my ear for several hours about a problem. At the end of this marathon, I gave what I thought was some wise counsel. This precious one listened and thanked me and then promptly ignored my advice for…
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November 29, 2017
Already Getting Ready for 2018!
Did you see this? “Thank you, Fr. Barnabas for daily encouraging words. I am not Orthodox…yet. I am inching my way to the faith. God bless you.” This is what we are able to do when you keep Faith Encouraged Ministries growing! And 2018 is offering us some wonderful challenges/opportunities. We Need to update our web presence and take advantage of new technology that will make it easier for you to get…
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2 Paths
How can you tell if a relationship is healthy or not? All of us wonder about that from time to time, and it’s natural to wonder. But the truth is we are all on a journey in life and, unless we stop now and again and assess where we are, we are going to look around one day and figure out we’re lost! Just like our physical health needs regular check ups,…
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November 28, 2017
The Slavery of Ignorance
“I’m sorry, I don’t believe you.” With that, I watched as our suspect in a series of robberies squirmed in his interrogation seat. My chief of detectives was a master at this kind of questioning, and all our evidence showed this man was the one who had been breaking into several shopping strips in our area for quite some time. When the detective said he didn’t believe the suspect, I watched as…
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November 27, 2017
Making Peace
He would say things like “Mr. Powell, words are your tools. Would you trust a mechanic that just tossed his tools around his shop as if they meant little to him? Words are your tools, Mr. Powell. If you aren’t going to use them well, you are an unfaithful steward of the gift God gives you!” The words of my homiletics professor hit me like a ton of bricks. Needless to say,…
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November 24, 2017
An Attitude of Gratitude
“What you need is an attitude of gratitude.” The trainer was teaching us new salesmen how to keep positive in the face of rejection. You see, it’s being told “no” over and over again that usually brings somebody’s sales career to an end. If you don’t know how to stay positive and focused and motivated, you won’t be a good salesperson. I quit two weeks later! What did me in wasn’t that…
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November 23, 2017
A Thankful Heart Overcomes All
I hated what was coming and, what made it worse was, it was unavoidable. It was a confrontation with a supervisor that had been building for some time, and it wasn’t going to be pretty. As he and I sat in the office of the consultant that the company had brought in to help several employees come to some resolution with a common challenge we all had with this supervisor, it was…
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