Day Thirty-five – Strange Christmas Traditions from around the World

Today I got to pick up my oldest son, Nick from the airport.  He's an amazing young man; has a sound spiritual life, loves God, has a really strong allegorical mind, and is getting things done as a first year at the Air Force Academy.  I love to read … [Continue reading]

Day Thirty-four – Log Cabins

Have you ever heard of "thin places"?   The idea is that there are places where the barrier between our world and another are so thin as to allow us to sense its presense.  Mythology is full of stories about "normal people' finding adventure (and … [Continue reading]

Day Thirty-three – Nog, Glog & Grog

Nog, Glog, and Grog are awesome words.  They sound like the names Tolkien would haven given to a trio of orcs or each of the heads of a three-headed giant.   Speaking of which, have you heard of an ettin?  What's neat about this kind of giant is … [Continue reading]

Day Thirty-two – Blogger’s Choice (Homily on Ephesians 4:1-6)

Homily on Ephesians 4:1-6 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the … [Continue reading]

Day Thirty-one – Idolatry

This may come as a shock to some folks, but Christians generally accept the notion that there are many gods.   In the Hebrew Old Testament, the Hebrew word "elohim" is used to represent the One True God, angels, the sons of God, the gods of foreign … [Continue reading]

Day Thirty – S’Mores

S'Mores are so over the top sweet that no one in my family can eat more than a bite before we get too yucked out to eat any more.  Despite that, when we mention a campfire to our kids, they can't think of anything else!  They start dancing around and … [Continue reading]

Press Release

PRESS RELEASE:  Fr. Anthony Perkins, Vocations Director of the UOC-USA, is the new webmaster of "Good Guys Wear Black", the premier website on Orthodox Christian Vocations   Fr. John Peck, the creator of the "Good Guys Wear Black"(GGWB) website, … [Continue reading]

An Introduction to Vocations I: Every soldier is a rifleman…

  An Introduction to Vocations, Part One; Every soldier is a rifleman; every clergyman is a Christian I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live … [Continue reading]

Day Twenty-nine – Saint Herman of Alaska

God is glorified in His saints! Along with a prayer book, one of the immediate blessings becoming an Orthodox catechumen brought me was bringing the saints into my life, mainly in the form of a used copy of The Prologue from Ochrid.  I love that … [Continue reading]

Day Twenty-Eight – Monastics

Monastics are the institutional and spiritual heart of Orthodoxy.  I had a wonderful interview with Priest-monk Peter Preble yesterday.  One of the things we agreed on was that we need to do a better job making monasticism real to our parishioners. … [Continue reading]