Barnabas Powell's Blog, page 171
September 27, 2017
Cooties!
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 far away from them as we possibly could! What was really nice was that, at that time, my initials were CP,…
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September 26, 2017
The World Could not Contain!
The older I get the more I’m convinced I’m not going to live long enough to learn all I want or even need to learn. There just seems to always be more! And that can be a daunting realization for a man who (foolishly) believes he has some sense about him! Frustrating as well, especially since his arrogance insists he know everything! But we humans have to come to the end of…
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September 25, 2017
“We Are Nothing”
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 home on our Great and Holy Friday. It’s worth reading the whole thing, but I wanted to show you this…
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September 22, 2017
Your Inheritance
“Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done.” When I sang that old hymn as a boy, I wondered what it could mean. After all, how can you count your blessings. There are so many. All you’d do is count all day long. But maybe that’s the point! If we learn to focus on our blessings maybe we won’t let what we don’t…
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September 21, 2017
Inconceivable!
OK, so one of my most favorite movies in the whole world is “Princess Bride” and one of my most favorite scenes in the movie is when Vincent keeps using the word “inconceivable!” Finally, after so many times of hearing this word from Vincent, Inigo Montoya responds “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” The truth is words matter, and the meaning of…
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September 20, 2017
The Power of Silence
“Hello darkness, my old friend. I’ve come to talk with you again. Because a vision softly creeping. Left it’s seeds while I was sleeping. And the vision that was planted in my brain, still remains within the sound of silence.” The opening lines from Simon and Garfunkel’s haunting hit from 1964 really capture the moment in American culture of both protest and grief. And there is a timelessness about these lyrics that…
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September 19, 2017
All Who Wander Aren’t Lost
Have you ever heard of the story of the donkey who saved a prophet’s life by talking to him? And you thought your dreams were strange! Seriously, this powerful story in the First Testament is worth your time! Read the whole story in Numbers 22. To make a long story short, Balaam is something of a prophet and some enemies of the Jews in the area want to hire him to curse…
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September 18, 2017
Emotionally Moved But Not Changed
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, that’s the weakness of a bumper sticker mindset! And yet, I click on the stories and watch the viral videos of the…
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September 15, 2017
Taste Suffering SO THAT You Can Taste Glory
Sometimes, the scriptures say things that really unsettle me. But I’ve learned when that happens, that’s a clue that I am approaching a place in my own heart that needs attention. And it’s beginning to dawn on me that most of the time I am unsettled by the wisdom of the Faith it’s because this wisdom is touching on suffering. Take, for example, this quote from St. Isaac the Syrian: If you would…
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September 14, 2017
Folly Or the Power of God
“Father, give us a word.” The young men sat in the cell of the holy elder and longed to hear his wisdom for their lives. As the elder spoke, the men’s hearts burned with joy and revelation. The elder then turned and asked each one of the young men what they thought about what he had said. And, in turn, they all spoke about what they thought the elder meant when he…
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