CowPi Journal

I have seen what I know, I feel much more than I know I know. I have shown what I have, I have given much less than I have had. I have stood up for those things I chrish, I have retreated, or compromised in heart, Much more than I have stood for. So when I fail—to know, to give, or to protect—Forgive me. — Joe Byron

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 question what the Bible says? Isn’t it funny how everyone wants to go to heaven […]

Someone once wrote that the Beatitudes are to Jesus as the Ten Commandments are to Moses. This is a good analogy because each seems to sum up the ministry of both men. Except,…

A story about a little girl’s daily faith in watering a cup of dirt and expectation of a miracle.

A mystery means that a reality is so big that our minds cannot completely surround it. A mystery means that the more we learn something, the more we find that we have yet to learn. It is like walking toward the horizon. Even if we walk for our whole lives, we’ll never arrive at the […]

A pair of little, brown swifts (maybe swallows) have built a little mud nest near our front door. Yesterday, the four five little chicks could be seen peaking over the edge. Make a noise and they open their beaks. They got all excited for a brief moment when the camera flash went off. Mom and […]

Lord, you are my sanctuary. I dwell within your house, And there I am safe. You dwell within my heart, And with you there I am safe. Let me never neglect your house, Oh Lord. Let me never neglect my heart, Oh Lord, let me never neglect you. Amen. — Ryan Harris

‘Whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.’ The meaning is very clear; it is the meaning of all religious practice. The individual, through prolonged psychological disciplines, gives up completely all attachment to his personal limitations, idiosyncrasies, hopes and fears, no longer resists the self-annihilation that is prerequisite to rebirth in the realization of truth, and so becomes ripe, at last, for the great at-one-ment. His personal ambitions being totally dissolved, he no longer tries to live but willingly relaxes to whatever may come to pass in him; he becomes, that is to say, an anonymity. — Joseph Campbell

In a comment to my previous entry, Karen asked a question regarding anonymity, spirituality, and weblogging. My reply was too long. It deserved it’s own journal entry. Do you see blogging as being antithetical to this sort of anonymity? Yes and no. It depends on why you blog. If you are into blogging to be […]

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 of the address.) And as a result, my website goes off line for a couple […]

One day, Satan and Jesus were having a conversation. Satan had just come from the Garden of Eden, and he was gloating and boasting. “Yes, sir, I just caught the world full of people down there. Set me a trap, used bait I knew they couldn’t resist. Got ’em all!” “What are you going to […]

Photo of three baby birds in a mud and twig nest built on the side of a brick wall.

God, give me the willpower to talk with you, To confide in you my fears, To tell you my secrets, To share with you my joys, To weep to you my sorrows, And to listen to your words of guidance. God, also give me the knowledge to keep my prayer vital, To try different ways of communicating with you, To sit in your holy presence, To bask in your perfection, To float in your goodness, And to be one with you throughout this life and in the next. Amen. — Ross B. Nodurft

If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape 100 days of sorrow. — Chinese proverb

Oh Lord, I thank You for loving me. I shall not cry out to You that I am not worthy because that You should love me, sinner that I am, is an act worthy of You who is Love itself. Oh Lord, I thank You for loving me. — Fr. Leo Clifford, attributed to an old French prayer

The honeymoon is over, definitely. It has been over for awhile. It just took for some time to past before I realized it, before I could label it. Now I can move beyond it.

Karen at Raw Faith links to piece called Holy Indifference (see Chittister’s full article). I agree with this piece except for one line in the second-to-last paragraph: Nothing lasts. No single thing can consume our entire life’s meaning. No single thing can give us total satisfaction. Nothing is worth everything: neither past, nor present nor […]

Gordon at Real Live Preacher is worried about being a false prophet. My daughter showed me this picture, and I thought about him and the dangers of leadership. Click on picture to see the whole story…

If I traded it all If I gave it all away for one thing     Just for one thing If I sorted it out If I knew all about this one thing     Wouldn’t that be something — Fingers Eleven, refrain from “One Thing”

Father God, I call to you. Jesus once gave us these words through John: This is the verdict: “Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” Let those men and women who choose hatred over compassion become keenly aware that the choice is theirs. And […]

Several of the Beatitudes talk about receiving blessings (happiness) from suffering. To me, this seems like a paradox, or better a mystery. How does all of this suppose to work? I trust in the Lord that it does, but I do not necessarily understand how. Henri Nouwen and others have described suffering as a cup […]

The old CowPi v2.0 Well, it seems to be that time of year again when I remodel the ol’ weblog. Welcome to CowPi version 3.0! The colors are a bit bold for my personality, but hey, I’m trying to expand my boundaries. Hope you like them? I have also used some fancy CSS tricks, but […]