Author: Fr. Barnabas Powell

When I was a boy, I was always excited about my birthday party. My mom was a hard working lady, but there always seemed to be time enough to make my day special either with a cake or something else that let me mark this landmark in my young years. Nowadays, well let’s just say, birthdays aren’t nearly the times of celebration as when I was younger! But, you know, we humans…

I really don’t know where it came from, but since I can remember, there were two great interests in my mind – politics and religion. Strange, since my traditional Southern upbringing discouraged the mixing of the two realms of human endeavor. But there it was, a passionate interest in both, so much so that there was a time in my life where I had to choose whether to become a politician or…

I was sitting right next to it! And then it went off! And I nearly jumped out of my skin. It was an alarm that let you know when someone was “breaking into the house.” I didn’t realize I was that close when they were going to test it and it scared me to death. But I guess that’s what an alarm is suppose to do: get your attention. Nowadays, though, most…

I will never forget his face. You see, this man was asking me about giving to his church. He was absolutely amazed that his pastor had preached a sermon on tithing. Tithing is the belief that one should set aside 10% of one’s income to dedicate to God’s house and supporting the work of the faith. His question to me revealed his dilemma. “Hey, Barnabas, you’re a religious person. (I like to think…

“They say hindsight’s 20/20.” Yep, that’s what they say. I don’t know anyone who, if they could and knowing what they know now, wouldn’t jump into a time machine and go back to one or two spots in their lives and do something different. We all have moments in our lives where we were blind to the unintended consequences of our choices. And yet, even knowing what we know now, we still…

“Don’t judge me!” That’s the cry of modern man in a modern society that has come to see every desire as a right, and every pleasure as a perfectly normal expectation. There’s a new Hollywood movie coming out that illustrates my point. It’s called “50 Shades of Grey.” I won’t bore you with the details, but suffice it to say this movie is about the fantasy of living a life with no…

“Free advice is worth every penny you pay for it!” With that, the old man proceeded to share with me some pearls of wisdom that I remember to this day. Isn’t it funny how much we already know? I mean the truth is I pretty much know how I should live and what decisions are best and what decisions are destructive to my life. In fact, it was a bit of a…

There’s one sure way for any politician to get an applause line in a stump speech. All he or she has to do is say “I support our troops!” And rightly so. The brave men and women who serve in our military perform a vital function in the preservation of our liberty, and we, as a nation, should always show our gratitude for their sacrificial service. The truth is freedom isn’t free,…

It’s just such a part of our common world today! There are people who believe they are killing other people for God. In fact, when a member of ISIS (that terrorist group in Syria and Iraq) was asked why they were actually killing the children too, he said they didn’t want the children to grow up and take revenge against them. Imagine a mindset so sick, so meticulous, that it could condone…

It’s a paradox. Paradox is a concept that we humans, especially we humans shaped and formed by a post-Enlightenment secularism, have a hard time grasping. Paradox makes us uncomfortable. It feels like a “problem” to be “solved.” That’s why we humans stumble over paradox. You know what I mean, don’t you? It’s like what Jesus said when He taught that to save your life, you must lose it, and to be a…