Observation Archives — General observations and comments.
· 18 September 2006 | 174 words
World: Do unto others before they do unto you. Reality: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. World: Life is something I have. Reality: I am a part of life. World: Love is a part of...
· 5 May 2006 | 24 words
I wonder if the individuals who are against immigration reform and are celebrating Cinco de Mayo today will appreciate the irony of the situation?...
· 19 April 2006 | 302 words
There is a moment in each day that Satan cannot find. -- William Blake I saw this quote today. My mind searched for a specific time or label for this moment in each day. I was tempted to answer,...
· 30 March 2006 | 104 words
Found this piece of advice for girls of all ages: Girls are like apples on trees. The best ones are at the top of the tree. Most guys don't want to reach for the good ones because they are...
· 13 March 2006 | 148 words
I very rarely click on ads on webpages, but this one had a t-shirt with "Calculus" written across the front. To be honest, there are just not that many neat math t-shirts out there that I like. But this...
· 28 February 2006 | 44 words
On Ash Wednesday, the traditional words said as one receives ashes are: Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return. Our school's deacon has "suggested" a modern, up-to-date version: Remember, dude, you are dust and like to...
· 16 February 2006 | 100 words
Deb at Abiding linked to an interesting little experiment in "mapping personality awareness" called a Johari window. Developed in 1950s, a Johari window is "describing yourself from a fixed list of adjectives, then asking your friends and colleagues to describe...
· 10 April 2005 | 651 words
Recently, I heard two songs with one line in each of them that crystallized an old memory and symbolized a connection for me that was just lying under the surface. The line from the first song was by Tim McGraw,...
· 2 April 2005 | 912 words
At the beginning of March, a very dear friend gave me the book Against an Infinite Horizon by Ronald Rolheiser. The gift came out of the blue as a very pleasant surprise. I had intended to start this book after...
· 22 January 2005 | 76 words
Last summer, Mark at Minute Particulars rephrased Camus' famous statement about suicide in terms for a reasonable discourse on abortion: There is but one truly philosophical problem regarding abortion, and that is homicide. Judging whether an unborn child is or...
· 6 January 2005 | 209 words
Gratitude is the seedbed of joy. -- Peter Kreeft Tom contemplates what is meant by "A Eucharistic Life": We could say, then, that a Eucharistic life is a life of thanksgiving, of blessing God, of humble gratitude for everything and everyone; a...
· 7 November 2004 | 248 words
Lord Jesus himself said: "It is more blessed to give than to receive." -- Acts 20:35 When material gifts are shared, they are divided and diminish. That is why people are selfish--if I share with you, then there will be less for...
· 29 October 2004 | 171 words
A Cherokee elder sitting with his grandchildren told them, "In every life there is a terrible fight--a fight between two wolves. One is evil: he is fear, anger, envy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment, and deceit. The other is good: joy,...
· 25 October 2004 | 399 words
Our memories play tricks on us. We label moments and episodes in our pasts as either happy or sad, joyous or painful. In reality, the joy and the sorrow exist simultaneously. One of them just seems to dominate over the...
· 3 October 2004 | 480 words
The first time I heard the song "The Space Between" by Dave Matthews Band, I only heard the refrain, and specifically only the words "space between". I was not in a quiet place at the moment so the rest of...
· 27 September 2004 | 14 words
With your computer mouse, highlight the whole line below from the X to the O: X Even though you can't see Him, GOD is there! O...
· 26 September 2004 | 468 words
This post is a follow-up to "Conditions of Love" from two weeks ago. It is also partly a reply to one commenter's suggestion that God's love is preconditional. Unconditional love is the choiceto love a personwho does not deserve it....
· 14 September 2004 | 1394 words
Not in heaven do we learn to love God, but here on earth. -- Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Everlasting Life A couple weeks ago, I posted the following question: "What are the consequences of conditional love?" I have been contemplating this...
· 5 September 2004 | 268 words
Of Courtesy, it is much less Than Courage of Heart or Holiness, Yet in my walks it seems to me That the Grace of God is in Courtesy -- Hilaire Belloc John Saward, in his article, "The Grace of God...
· 29 July 2004 | 88 words
Sin is like a man jumping into a well. His act is eternal, leaving no hope of escape. Only Jesus, by His immense love through the redemptive Incarnation, can throw a rope down the well to save the man. The...
· 29 July 2004 | 146 words
Part of a conversation between an Eastern Orthodox and a Pomergent: Karl: So if we want the truths..., we have to look for them in an "uncontaminated" system. robbymac: However, good luck finding an "uncontaminated" source other than the Bible!...
· 25 July 2004 | 94 words
The sky was overcast and gray all day, threatening to rain, but never following through except for an occasional drizzle. In the evening, the clouds broke near the western horizon. The golden setting sun peeked under the clouds, making all...
· 23 July 2004 | 1411 words
Faith is daring of the soul to go farther than it can see. -- William Newton Clarke See Part 1. To no fault of our own, humans are largely stuck with the idea that time is a linear sequence of...
· 20 July 2004 | 64 words
Redemption, Reconciliation, Liberation ::: Love, Peace, Energy ::: Father, Son, Holy Spirit
· 19 July 2004 | 1136 words
Time and Space are not the ultimate reality. Let's set the stage with a simple story. In a marvelous little book by Edwin Abbott called Flatland, the main character is a geometric figure called A. Square. He is a mathematician...
· 17 July 2004 | 48 words
René Descartes walks into a bar and has a drink. The bartender asks him, "Would you like another?" Descartes pauses and says, "I think not," and promptly disappears. The bartender is enlightened. I just knew it. Descartes had his famous...
· 5 July 2004 | 510 words
Read the whole Bible within a year on this flexible schedule.
· 15 June 2004 | 270 words
A poser: Is losing your domain name, even temporarily, analogous to losing your driver's license? Every year about this time, a month before renewal, my domain registrar always seems to screw things up with my domain name. (The cowpi.com part...
· 7 June 2004 | 205 words
Edited from an email circular... Isn't it funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell? Isn't it funny how we believe what the newspapers or TV news say, but...
· 29 May 2004 | 505 words
In the Thursday night re-run episode of Joan of Arcadia called "The Uncertainty Principle", God tells Joan to ask a troubled and lonely guy to a dance, a bully that no one likes. Joan: Well, you never told me to...
· 25 May 2004 | 118 words
The attached photo was used in a case study on stress level at St. Mary's Hospital. In the photo, you will see two dolphins jumping out of the water. The dolphins are identical. A closely monitored, scientific study revealed that...
· 25 May 2004 | 71 words
With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very important person which went unnoticed last week. Larry LaPrise, the man who wrote "The Hokey Pokey",...
· 9 May 2004 | 323 words
Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you've had a baby ...somebody doesn't know that once you're a mother, normal is history. Somebody said you learn how to be a mother by instinct ...somebody...
· 17 April 2004 | 111 words
Five easy steps...to randomness: Grab the nearest book. Open the book to page 23. Find the fifth sentence. Post the text of the sentence as a comment on my blog. Post the text of the sentence on your own blog,...
· 13 April 2004 | 70 words
This is a cool optical illusion, based on persistence of vision. (Thanks to Emily.) Follow these instructions: Relax and concentrate on the four small dots in the middle of the picture below for about 30-40 seconds. Close your eyes, or...
· 1 April 2004 | 127 words
From a toxic chemical alert (via Anders): Dihydrogen monoxide is an colorless, odorless, tasteless chemical that can be deadly if accidentally inhaled. Oh great! Some other chemical we need to be worried about. Here are just some of the...
· 30 March 2004 | 453 words
Received this in an email. Seems worth passing along. The most destructive habit . . . . . . . . . . . . . Worry The greatest Joy. . . . . . . . . . ....
· 13 March 2004 | 669 words
A few comments about particulars of the movie, The Passion of the Christ... Warning: If you have not seen the movie, there are spoilers below....
· 2 March 2004 | 85 words
On a retreat this past weekend, there were a lot of hugs (and tears). I loved to watch this one particular girl give hugs. She had this way about her that made it seem like she and the other person...
· 6 January 2004 | 386 words
There have been certain temptations I have managed, by the grace of God, to avoid while writing this web journal. One of them has been not to look at the statistics of visitors to this site. A big part of...
· 16 December 2003 | 16 words
Need a gift idea for a person who seems to have everything? How about this?...
· 25 November 2003 | 301 words
I walked into Braums Ice Cream store this evening to buy a gallon of ice cream for the holidays and to pick up a sundae for my wife. Nothing usual in this except that I was wearing a bright pink...
· 28 October 2003 | 24 words
Christians! Notify your face. Let others see Christ in you. -- Seen on a billboard
· 22 September 2003 | 58 words
Acocdrnig to an Elgnsih unviesitry sutdy, the oredr of letetrs in a wrod dosen't mttaer. The olny thnig thta is iopmrantt is that the frsit and lsat ltteer of eevry word is in the crcreot ptoision. The rset can be...
· 22 August 2003 | 261 words
Brian, the senior religion teacher, delivered the morning prayer before an all-school assembly yesterday. Before the prayer, he told us this story: There was a farmer working out in his field one day. A traveler was walking down the road...
· 6 August 2003 | 214 words
Within the course of a lengthy conversation covering a gamut of topics like retreats, Thomism, and his new parish assignment, I asked a young priest what was the best thing and worse thing about his new job? He said that...
· 28 July 2003 | 34 words
Have you tried the new guacamole flavored Doritos yet? They are pretty good, although how much they taste like real guacamole is debatable. But be fore-warned: they go in green, and come out green!...
· 7 July 2003 | 278 words
I was watching a TV show called Oswald with my three-old son this afternoon. Oswald is a children's cartoon about an eternally optimistic, soft-spoken, blue and round octopus. In this particular episode, he first meets his happy-go-lucky friend Daisy...
· 6 July 2003 | 62 words
Ever heard of the phrase "you're one in a million" used as a compliment? With over 6 billion people currently alive in the world today, that means there are 6,000 people just like you! (The population of the state of...
· 17 June 2003 | 574 words
Some people just won't let you help them. At noon today, my teenage daughter and I were driving down the interstate. It was along a semi-surban/rural area of the interstate, just at the eastern edge of Oklahoma City. There was...
· 17 May 2003 | 291 words
The best place to be during a graduation is with the seniors lining up before the ceremony. There was a positive energy, with a hint of happy anxiety, that filled the air at last night's graduation. The students were beaming....
· 15 May 2003 | 309 words
I was driving down the interstate this morning and began to thing about control. Within all the rush hour traffic, I realized that the only control I really had was the space in front of me, that space between myself...
· 9 May 2003 | 517 words
Yesterday was the last day of classes for seniors at the high school where I teach. I always have mixed emotions about the last day of school. (I have another last day of school to go through with the underclassmen.)...
· 2 May 2003 | 233 words
A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts, "Excuse me. Can you help me? I promised my client...
· 23 April 2003 | 169 words
Have you ever been cutting something in the kitchen and accidently cut yourself? In that instant, time seems to stop, and you can see the razor edge of the knife blade slice into the skin of your finger. And in...
· 7 April 2003 | 197 words
I was following this person driving a brand-new BMW this morning and began to think about how far technology has progressed. The automobile has come a long way since Ford's Model T. Cars have an amazing amount of the electronic...
· 4 April 2003 | 71 words
With Spring in the air and Easter just around the corner, I found some fantastic images of flowers. Katinka Matson has managed to produce some of the most striking digital images of flowers. The colors and the composition just leap...
· 21 March 2003 | 183 words
Our esteemed state leaders decreed that every school in Oklahoma will have spring break at the same time, that is, during the third week of March. As the weather would have it, we have had four days straight of rain...
· 20 March 2003 | 84 words
Looks like Spring is here in central Oklahoma. The dogwood trees started blooming two or three days ago. Many types of grasses have greened up. And today, I noticed that first hint of green on a lot of the trees....
May God’s love,
peace, and energy
touch you in faith.
![[Jerusalem Cross with Heart]](http://cowpi.com/journal/grafiks/jerusalem-cross-heart.gif "Jerusalem Cross with Heart")