Do Not Envy Evil

It is totally natural. We look around and see ‘everyone but us’ enjoying life. We are struggling to keep the fast of Great Lent and attend extra church services while our friends are going to parties and living it up. We feel like oddballs among our friends, and sometimes even family. Great Lent will be…

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Evil is not the End

Since evil entered humanity in the Garden, it has been at war with God. We remember from the first week of Great Lent that God promised evil would not prevail. He promised that it would eventually be destroyed. Our Great Lenten Journey is about the war. It is about victory over evil. When Joseph came…

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Some Things Can Wait

One of my favorite lessons to learn during Great Lent has to do with feast days. As you know, during Great Lent the Church does not encourage large celebrations. In fact, even the Divine Liturgy is limited during Great Lent because it is ‘too festive’ for the normal character of Lent. Today is the Feast…

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Plans Change

The saying, “The best laid plans of mice and men,” struck me today. No matter how much we plan, we cannot control other people. We can only control ourselves. Sometimes even our family will betray us along the way. That’s ok because God is on our side. When Isaac was old and his eyes were…

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Get Past Your Ego

We all struggle with our ego. We think we are better than others when we are not. We think we are worse than others when we are not. Good or bad, we often think of ourselves before others. Even the Disciples had difficulties with their ego. What makes us think we are so different? At…

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Are You Praying for Your City?

Last night throughout the entire Orthodox Christian world, Churches were filled with faithful. It wasn’t liturgy, but it was just as important. Tens of thousands of Orthodox Christians sang the Akathist to the Theotokos according to our custom. It is a service which commemorates a time when our faithful ancestors prayed to the Theotokos to…

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Questioning God

I hear it often, too often really. “I can’t believe in a god who would do that.” It doesn’t even matter what ‘that’ is. The very idea that God doesn’t have the right to do and act as He please shocks me. He is either God or He is not. Thus says the LORD, the…

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Negotiating with God

We all do it. We try to broker a deal with God. We promise the moon and deliver a dim candle. Then we still expect God to ‘do for us’ what we wanted in the first place. We forget that God is all knowing. We forget that He already knows we will fall short. Yet…

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The Promised Land

It seems there is perpetual war in the Middle East. Although history reveals certain periods of peace, the reality that people have been fighting over a sliver of land for centuries should make us ponder. Where is the promised land that God offered to Abraham? When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to…

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