Why do most Christians seem to avoid evangelism? I’ll tell you why I avoided it. As you know I was raised a protestant. I embraced the Jesus Movement which started in my teen years. An important emphasis of the movement was to witness, share the gospel, evangelize. I went to parks and public places with …
What is a Stumbling Block?
Have you ever stumbled? Did you stub your toe? Ouch! Did you fall? BOOM! Or did you catch yourself and regain your balance? Whew! One night I was at my sister’s. We were taking things to the car, preparing to leave. I always get to carry the heavy and bulky things. It was late. It …
Do You Have JOY?
Has anyone ever asked you this? JOY means: Jesus first, Others second, and You third. It is an anonymous acronym that doubles as a quote. It’s cute, clever, and (blast the air horn) wrong—because you should never let anyone get between You and Jesus. This is not to say that Others are not important. They …
Praying With the Saints
When I was a young protestant I was taught that prayer should be from the heart (spontaneous). When people prayed reading a prayer I sat through it in judgement and didn’t listen to its content. After becoming Orthodox I came to accept that written prayers, especially by Church Fathers, were of benefit. Not only were …
Who Is “The Man?”
Think of the first Psalm as an introduction to them all. It asks us to take all the Psalms to heart. Learn from them. Apply them. It starts, “Blessed is the man…” Who is the man? What do you think? I posed this question to a dozen people and got three responses: 1) Me. 2) …
How Many Times Was Jesus Born?
St. Gregory the Theologian, also known as Gregory of Nazianzus, was born in 329 in Cappadocia, an area of Eastern Turkey. In 381 he was elected archbishop of Constantinople. At the time, all the churches of Constantinople were led by the Arians. These heretics believed that Jesus was not always God. Their heresy was from …