CowPi: Faith Archives

Faith Archives (164 entries)

Faith Archives — My thoughts as I journey the road of faith.

Not to Forget

· 27 October 2006 | 433 words

I have wanted to write a post on the difference between happiness and joy. As I sat here and tried, none of the words seem to fit. Then it dawned on me that I replied earlier today in an email...

"Pope Benedict recently completed a series of audiences on the Twelve Apostles," writes Jimmy Akin. "He covers what we know about them, what is speculated about them, what their writings contain, and what their example says to us today." Apostles...

Essence and Existence

· 23 October 2006 | 423 words

I ran across an interesting line from a post by Bob Godwin the other day that seems to highlight one of the major differences, if not the difference between a person of faith and one without faith. Like so many...

Do Not Use Me God

· 27 August 2006 | 745 words

Does God use people, or does He love them? Does God love objects or does He use them? Early this summer, my spiritual director lent me a copy of Rich Mullins: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven. It is part...

3 Days That Changed the World

· 8 June 2006 | 16 words

My daughter's college roommate had a hand-crafted picture of this hanging up in their dorm room....

Royal Blood

· 20 May 2006 | 414 words

From Wednesday's Baccalaureate Mass, Fr. Scott said the following near the end of his homily (emphasis added). It applies to all people, not only to the "youth of today". They say that the biggest problem with the youth of today...

Distractions

· 12 May 2006 | 378 words

I have not written one word on the Da Vinci Code or on gnostic writings like the Gospel of Judas or Thomas (or anything written by Elaine Pagels). I probably will not write any others after this post. My forte...

The Fourth Day

· 17 April 2006 | 223 words

The Jerusalem Cross has four smaller crosses around a large central cross. The five crosses represent the five wounds of Christ. When the large cross represents Christ, the four smaller crosses can represent many things--the four Gospels by the...

Glad

· 16 April 2006 | 1372 words

Are you glad Jesus died for you? Are you gald that Jesus was arrested, humilated, beatened, scourged, forced to carry his final means of torture and death, stripped naked, nailed to the Cross, and hung up to die a slow,...

Four Questions

· 28 March 2006 | 711 words

Here is a meme that St. Ignatius of Loyola started. In his Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius wrote that four questions must be asked of any leader that one chooses to follow. The same is true of Jesus Christ. 1. Who is...

The Shadow of Death

· 26 March 2006 | 378 words

The Shadow of Death, by William Holman Hunt, 1873 Lent ends with the Easter Triduum--Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. The whole life of Jesus leads to the Cross. This painting reminds me of that in a poignant and real personal way that...

He Died for Me

· 16 March 2006 | 1040 words

Hanging over the desk in the priest's office is a picture of the crucifixion. The point of view is from above the Cross, kind of high above His right hand and a little out in front, looking downward toward Him...

Burning Thirst

· 13 March 2006 | 195 words

God says (in part of this poem): I am independent of all purity and impurity, Of all laziness and all diligence in worship. I haven't ordered my worship to profit from it, But to bestow a benefit upon My servants....

Desires and Order

· 9 March 2006 | 393 words

In Luke 10:27, Jesus quotes scripture: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' This one sentence, this...

Ashes to Ashes, Life to Life

· 1 March 2006 | 173 words

I had the great privilege and honor of being one of the assistants to distribute ashes at our school Mass today. Ashes are a strong symbol for death, and after all, that is the point of Ash Wednesday, to remind...

Fasting and Feasting

· 24 February 2006 | 309 words

Lent should be more than a time of fasting. It should also be a joyous season of feasting. Lent is a time to fast from certain things and to feast on others. It is a season to turn to God:...

Receive, Give Thanks, Break, and Share

· 18 February 2006 | 832 words

I heard once that if you read the four Gospels with a highlighter, and marked every time Jesus touched someone to heal them, you would find that you highlighted something on just about every page. Touching was Jesus' preferred way...

St. John of God

· 3 January 2006 | 717 words

St. John of God picked me! Moneybags at A Catholic Life (via Julie D.) reminded us Catholics about "the practice of picking a saint at random to be your 'holy protector' for the year. Actually, the saint is the one...

Bearing the Cost

· 6 December 2005 | 606 words

The second and last letter in the alphabet of Love: Just then she looked up at the cliffs above her head and started with surprise and delight. In a tiny crevice of the rock, where a few drops from the...

Acceptance with Joy

· 25 November 2005 | 280 words

The first letter of the alphabet of Love: On the last morning she was walking near the tents and huts of the desert dwellers, when in a lonely corner behind a wall she came upon a little golden-yellow flower, growing...

Holy Place

· 21 November 2005 | 575 words

What does a holy place feel like? There is no right or wrong answer to this question. I ask that you please pause a moment and think seriously about your answer before reading further....

Principle and Foundation

· 17 November 2005 | 378 words

For the last seven weeks, I have been meeting with a small group once a week and with a spiritual director twice a month for a 30-week program called A Retreat in Daily Life. It is based on the Spiritual...

What time…

· 20 October 2005 | 13 words

What time I am afraid, I will trust in you. -- Psalm 56:3...

Seeking

· 7 October 2005 | 514 words

Spirituality is about seeing. -- Richard Rohr I forgot where I read or heard him say that. He went on to say that much about spirituality is three steps forward and two steps back. When you think you see,...

My Brokenness

· 30 September 2005 | 592 words

My depression back in January/February has changed the landscape of my heart, of my soul, of my personality. It broke me. It broke me deep inside. Because of that, my whole perspective on faith, on hope, on love, and on...

To Touch the Rain

· 5 September 2005 | 466 words

Desolation never comes from God. -- St. Ignatius of Loyola If it did, we would just be puppets. And where would our free will be then? St. Ignatius advised not to make any changes in the middle of a...

Voices

· 27 August 2005 | 270 words

Self-Pity has been whispering in my ear. He is sneaky, disguising his voice to be another, like a well-meaning friend, but false. He has been saying, "You're tired Mark. You're tired of falling. You're tired of trying to get back...

Faith Looks Up

· 20 August 2005 | 413 words

I was just telling my calculus students the other day, the first day of school, that a major difference between calculus and algebra is the way we view graphs of functions. In algebra, we tend to view a graph as...

Lonely?

· 19 August 2005 | 347 words

Just found out that my last surviving grandparent, my mom's mom, died. Another link to my family history lost (for now). Mom passed away back in 1993 and there is hardly a day that goes by that I do not...

I Am Certain

· 13 August 2005 | 219 words

I know the following beautiful but frightening words written by Paula D'Arcy to be true in my head, but I am trying to learn them in my heart. I know that I have partially learned them, but my analytical side...

Hind’s Feet on High Places

· 30 July 2005 | 1496 words

I have wanted to write and recommend this book for well over a month now, but the words never seemed to come to me when I sat down to write. This book has become one of those cornerstone books for...

Disappear

· 16 July 2005 | 581 words

I have almost deleted this whole weblog three times in the past two weeks. Had my finger of the delete button, ready to go, but didn't. Not sure why. I have not really been reading other weblogs either. Nothing seems...

Christ-Bearer

· 7 July 2005 | 117 words

Someone gave my daughter a unique and modern looking St. Christopher medal as a graduation present. The image below is the same as the one on the medal. The text is from the little card that came with it. (by James...

Frail

· 22 June 2005 | 731 words

I wrote the following paragraph in an email this morning to a very dear friend of mine. It was part advice, but it also pretty much summed up one of two of my current struggles in faith. I am learning...

That Power is God

· 18 April 2005 | 418 words

Just got back from co-directing a four day retreat for high school junior and senior girls. It was an awesome weekend, a great privilege and honor to serve others. I still need some time to process some of the powerful...

Learning to Float

· 13 March 2005 | 536 words

The soul must long for God in order to be set aflame by God's love; but if the soul cannot yet feel this longing, then it must long for the longing. To long for the longing is also from God....

Reformatting Faith

· 9 March 2005 | 2526 words

The experience of losing your faith, or of having lost it, is an experience that in the long run belongs to faith; or at least it can belong to faith if faith is still valuable to you, and it...

Prayer as Sacrifice

· 8 March 2005 | 672 words

We are true worshipers and true priests. We pray in spirit, and so offer in spirit the sacrifice of prayer. Prayer is an offering that belongs to God and is acceptable to him: it is the offering he has...

Unworthy?

· 2 March 2005 | 342 words

This is a portion of a letter I wrote to one of my students recently: Yesterday, you mentioned something about being a little uncomfortable at Mass lately because you feel unworthy. I hope you never forget what I whispered to...

The Coin of Faith

· 23 January 2005 | 858 words

There seems to be two sides to faith, as if faith was a coin that has been handed to us. One side of the "coin of faith" looks externally, that is, it looks outside of ourselves to others who have...

Deafness, Patience & Prayer

· 30 December 2004 | 822 words

The other night in the bookstore, the book The Spiritual Life by Evelyn Underhill immediately caught my attention. I thumbed through the beginning pages and the quote below made me freeze. I fear that I may be deaf. So many...

Did You Hear the Good News?

· 25 December 2004 | 71 words

Star by Janet McKenzie "Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means "God is with us." -- Matthew 1:23, Isaiah 7:14 That maybe the most profound statement in...

No More Words; More Than Words

· 5 December 2004 | 1141 words

Prayer and love are learned in the hour when prayer becomes impossible and your heart has turned to stone. -- Thomas Merton In the last couple weeks or so, I have ran into a "problem" in my prayer life....

If I Could Ask God One Question

· 29 November 2004 | 619 words

God said to Joan, "It's not about the answers; it's about asking the right questions." -- From the TV show, Joan of Arcadia A dear friend of mine asked me a simple question the other day. Because of its...

Until We Meet Again

· 17 October 2004 | 1260 words

A Hard Pill to Swallow -- I read a book this summer that dealt with death, judgment, heaven and hell from the point of view of classic Christian theology. One specific point reminded me of something I have heard many...

Stay or Go?

· 4 September 2004 | 501 words

Christy's post reminds me of something I read about grace. There are two types of grace, sanctifying grace and actual grace...

Two Sides of Darkness

· 30 August 2004 | 486 words

I am a pilgrim stuck between two sides of darkness. I am happy, do not get me wrong, but I feel a little sense of restlessness. Behind me is one darkness, or at least I am on the outer edge...

Solitude

· 30 August 2004 | 873 words

"Solitude is frightening for some and simply baffling for others." "There is a big loneliness at the center of every person. It is universal. There's a reason for the loneliness. It is meant to lead you somewhere. Even if you...

Benedictine Values

· 24 August 2004 | 359 words

While searching for some Benedictine weblogs, I found the following list of quotes highlighting Benedictine spirituality at One House. The original source is unknown, but the quotes come from the Rule of Benedict. The use of the word "rule" is...

Somebody to Everybody

· 18 August 2004 | 503 words

Spirituality is about relationships. Every man, woman, and child bears to us the presence of God. -- Fr. Daniel Homan, Radical Hospitality I heard this Reba McEntire song on the radio this morning, "Somebody". It is about this piece of...

Mary, Our Lady

· 15 August 2004 | 297 words

Some things to think about on this day, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary-- From Fr. Ken: Mary, the mother of Jesus, enjoyed all the joys of being a mother. Mary, the mother of Jesus, suffered...

The Words and the Music

· 1 August 2004 | 1504 words

The ending of this story has been haunting me for the past two weeks: Mark Twain's wife, a prim and proper lady, tried to shock him one time out of his use of vulgar language. She greeted him at the...

Three Dimensions of Spirituality

· 27 July 2004 | 513 words

The spiritual life is a reaching out to our innermost self, to our fellow human and to our God. -- Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out Something I read yesterday reminded me of a teachers' inservice I attended last Fall. The guest...

Time, Prayer, and the Body of Christ - Part 2

· 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...

Turning Toward God

· 21 July 2004 | 101 words

I stumbled upon this weblog called Scattered Words (via mute Troubadour). The author is named Ben, and he is a 22-year old struggling with his sexual identity and his relationship with God (a double load to carry). Someone wrote him...

Time, Prayer, and the Body of Christ - Part 1

· 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...

Time and Sin

· 12 July 2004 | 594 words

We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. -- C.S. Lewis

Risk a Venture

· 3 July 2004 | 454 words

Our duty as Christians lies in making ventures for eternal life without the absolute certainty of success... This, indeed, is the very meaning of the word 'venture'; for that is a strange venture which has nothing in it of fear,...

I desire…

· 2 July 2004 | 52 words

I desire mercy, not sacrifice. -- Jesus (Matthew 9:13)

Just Pondering the Why of It All

· 1 July 2004 | 652 words

You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. -- St. Augustine In the book, The Holy Longing, Ronald Rolheiser describes a Jewish legend about what happens to the soul just before...

Four Levels of Happiness

· 29 June 2004 | 796 words

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...

The Honeymoon is Over

· 20 June 2004 | 312 words

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.

Be-Attitudes

· 7 June 2004 | 453 words

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,...

Consolation and Desolation

· 28 May 2004 | 1027 words

In the last scene of the season's final episode of Joan of Arcadia, Joan's parents are quietly talking in Joan's hospital room. Helen had talked to a priest earlier in the day... Helen: He said that we go through times...

One Particular Prayer

· 22 May 2004 | 669 words

The other morning, this thought entered my stream of consciousness quite abruptly. It was not like most thoughts that seem to float down my river of consciousness, where I can gingerly shift focus of attention from one thought to the...

The Golden Thread of Time

· 5 May 2004 | 1376 words

Here we are living in time you and I. Yesterday is gone. We are waiting for tomorrow. And the present moment eludes us even as we try to grasp it. God lives in eternity, where there is no yesterday. There...

Only Love Will Remain

· 27 April 2004 | 161 words

I know Jesus, and I talk to God, And I remember this from when I was young: Faith, hope, and love are some good things He gave us, And the greatest is love. -- Alan Jackson, from That September Day...

Tiger by the Tail

· 26 April 2004 | 319 words

In the same conversion with a friend, I mentioned that I trusted God completely, or, at least I am trying to do my best. I have not been tested with anything big yet, like on the scale of Job, but...

A Leaf in a Stream

· 22 April 2004 | 230 words

A leaf that falls into a stream (or a leaf we intentionally drop into a stream) just where the water disappears into the ground...will come out again at the next opening, because the underground stream has faithfully carried it there,...

Resurrection

· 11 April 2004 | 350 words

Only a while ago you still knelt at the empty grave, a sea of tears. And all you knew was that the Lord was dead, that the life of quiet joy you shared was dead. You only stare into the...

A Personal Equation Between the Cross and Us

· 9 April 2004 | 228 words

This quote from Archbishop Fulton Sheen's book, The Cross and the Beatitudes: Lessons on Love and Forgiveness, seems fitting for today on Good Friday: There is a personal equation between that Cross and us. Life with its rebellions, its injustices,...

Foolish People

· 2 April 2004 | 245 words

Henri Nouwen, in his book With Burning Hearts, meditates on many lessons from the story of the two travelers on the road to Emmaus. This paragraph practically shouted at me: "Foolish people," [Jesus] said. "So slow to believe." These words...

The World Spins Upside Down

· 30 March 2004 | 640 words

Rumor has it You love me Rumor has it the world spins upside down Rumor has it my only hope is in You And the rumors are true I turn everything over The above lines from a Switchfoot song keeps...

Redemption, Reconciliation, and Liberation

· 22 March 2004 | 3039 words

This post is partially a reply to Gil Milbauer's comments on Christianity. He is an atheist who has some serious questions and misinformed opinions of Christianity. I am not a very good apologist, but here is my attempt to explain...

Why a Blood Sacrifice?

· 13 March 2004 | 373 words

The movie The Passion of the Christ has caused some division among people. This should not be of any surprise. After all, Jesus and His message has caused division for over two thousand years. The movie focused on the last...

Life Happens

· 11 March 2004 | 141 words

Do you have a bumper sticker on your car? I don't. Never found one that perfectly expressed my attitude or opinion. Do you remember those bumper stickers a couple of years ago that read, "Shit Happens"? I always thought that...

Trying to Hold the Mystery of The Cross

· 9 March 2004 | 785 words

I like this quote. I thought of posting it myself. The author is reminding us that there is more to Jesus than just His sacrifice at The Cross. But then I read David M.'s comment. His comment irritates me because it implies a misunderstanding of the sacrifice of The Cross.

My Quilt

· 8 March 2004 | 525 words

One of my students passed this story on to me. The original author is unknown. (Thanks Becca.) As I faced my Maker at the last judgement, I knelt before the Lord along with all the other souls. Before each of...

Is It Really You?

· 5 March 2004 | 309 words

Jonya had to go out of town. Her dad had died. She had to help her sister with the funeral arrangements and settle his estate. Her husband and three-year old son were going to stay behind at home. It would...

You Talk Too Much

· 4 March 2004 | 474 words

I usually do not remember my dreams, but I had a very vivid dream about two weeks ago. It was a bright, sunny day with deep azure skies sparsely dotted with small puffs of white cottony clouds. I was walking...

A Privilege To See The Holy Spirit Work

· 2 March 2004 | 196 words

Just back from leading an intensive, four-day retreat with high school junior and senior girls. (This was my third such retreat this school year. One was with boys, and the other two with girls.) It was an awesome experience for...

Live life like…

· 4 February 2004 | 326 words

Live life like a prayer to God.

The Kingdom of God

· 26 January 2004 | 40 words

The Kingdom of God is any place where the will of God is done.

Body of Christ

· 25 January 2004 | 137 words

I believe; you believe; here He is, the Bread of Life; touch Him in Faith; I want to live, to be healed.

Heaven

· 16 January 2004 | 296 words

The song "Heaven" by Live keeps going around in my head. Someone special put it there. Like him, I get a kick to hear songs in the popular media that deal with faith and spirituality. You don't need no friends...

The path of love…

· 12 January 2004 | 54 words

It is by the path of love, which is charity, that God draws near to man, and man to God. But where charity is not found, God cannot dwell. If, then, we possess charity, we possess God, for 'God is Charity' (1 Jn 4:8). -- St. Albert the Great

Upgrade My Attachments to Preferences

· 12 January 2004 | 89 words

Suffering is wishing things were other than they are. -- Buddha * Upgrade my 'attachments' to 'preferences' -- Jennifer Rice

The Pointing Finger of Sin

· 4 January 2004 | 980 words

I, like many people, do not like to directly talk about sin. No one likes to be told that they are doing things that are morally wrong and going against the will of God. Most people's reaction is who the...

Affected (or should that be Infected?)

· 1 January 2004 | 62 words

I cannot affect you without you affecting me.

The Singer and His Song

· 29 December 2003 | 236 words

"How does one seek union with God?" / "The harder you seek, the more distance you create between Him and you." / "So what does one do about the distance?" / "Understand that it isn't there." / "Does that mean that God and I are one?" / "Not one. Not two." / "How is that possible?" / "The sun and its light, the ocean and the wave, the singer and his song--not one. Not two." -- Anthony de Mello

A Christmas Blessing

· 25 December 2003 | 13 words

May the Light of Christ Burn brightly in your life, Today and always...

Do you not know…

· 24 December 2003 | 97 words

Do you not know or have you not heard? The LORD is the eternal God, creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint nor grow weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny. He gives strength to the fainting; for the weak he makes vigor abound. Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall, they that hope in the LORD will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles' wings; They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint. -- Isaiah 40:28-31

Secret Santa—Bah Humbug

· 21 December 2003 | 697 words

The people I work with decided to have one of those Secret Santa-gift exchanges. We called it Advent Angel. I signed up to be a part of the festivities and picked a name. The idea was to give your person...

Everything is on its way to somewhere

· 14 December 2003 | 121 words

One more scene near the end of the movie Phenomenon (see previous entry) is a wonderful metaphor for what the right attitude should be about people that come and go in our lives. George, played by John Travolta, tries...

About the Human Spirit

· 13 December 2003 | 672 words

"What I am talking about is the human spirit. That's the challenge. That's the voyage. That's the expedition."

What we carry in our hearts…

· 12 December 2003 | 27 words

What we carry in our hearts is what we will have to answer for when we face God at the end of our journey.

Contraception and Sin

· 10 December 2003 | 743 words

I normally do not directly write a reaction to what I read on other weblogs, but something prompted me to write this one. In the process, I learned something deeper and more visceral about the nature of sin. The Mystic...

I do not need to seek God…

· 8 December 2003 | 46 words

I do not need to seek God. God is already here waiting to be found, soaked in my reality. My journey is to be one of recognizing God, always, already present, and surfacing that presence in my daily life. -- Edwina Gateley, from "A Mystical Heart"

An Invitation

· 4 December 2003 | 313 words

One of my students sent the following invitation to me in an email. Some may find it a little cutesy, but the theology, and more importantly the sentiments, are perfect! (Thanks Stacy.) · · · You are cordially...

To Hold, or Not To Hold

· 3 December 2003 | 712 words

One touchy area (sorry, pun intended) has always been whether a congregation holds hands during the Our Father. The new, minor changes to the Liturgy do not address this issue. Some parishes hold hands, others do not. It does not exactly make one way right and the other wrong. It is the preference of that community. I can accept that, whatever it may be. But...

Retreat Experience

· 28 November 2003 | 859 words

I had the great privilege and honor to be a co-director of a three-and-half day long retreat last weekend for high school juniors and seniors. This was only my second time to be on team for this retreat. It was...

Stewardship vs. Ownership

· 13 November 2003 | 61 words

In the previous journal entry, I used the word stewardship instead of the word ownership in regards to faith. We do not own our faith. We are stewards of it. Faith is a gift. It is the acceptance of friendship...

Taking Stewardship

· 13 November 2003 | 631 words

I was talking with one of my seniors this morning. She is a very bright student, in contention for valedictorian. She is probably one of the top ten math students I have had in my whole 13-year teaching career, and...

Have a Good Day

· 5 November 2003 | 425 words

Sentiments on the phrase, "have a good day."

The Enlightenment of Buzz Lightyear

· 3 November 2003 | 612 words

Like Neo in the Matrix movies, Buzz Lightyear from "Toy Story" found enlightenment too.

Going with the Flow

· 31 October 2003 | 127 words

A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it. -- G. K. Chesterton

To a Beautiful Person

· 29 October 2003 | 134 words

If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring. He sends you a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, He listens. He can live anywhere in the universe, but He chose your heart. Face it friend, He is crazy about you! God didn't promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain, but He did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way.

Meaning of Mercy

· 27 October 2003 | 306 words

The word mercy is one of those loaded words with many meanings and connotations. Unfortunately, the modern use of this word has tended to focus on its association with the word pity or clemency. The older meaning of mercy, the...

Master, I want to see

· 26 October 2003 | 405 words

At times, there is a big difference between reading scripture and hearing it. Case in point was in this Sunday's Gospel reading from Mark 10:46-52: As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind...

That which I am…

· 23 October 2003 | 31 words

That which I am, I offer to you, O Lord, for you are it entirely. -- from The Book of Privy Counseling

Fruit of the Spirit

· 23 October 2003 | 102 words

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. -- Galatians 5:22-25

Are You Holy?

· 20 October 2003 | 448 words

Are you holy? This question was asked by the guest speaker at a conference I attended this past weekend. No one raised their hand. The speaker went on to say that she has asked this same question for many years....

A Window for the Light

· 15 October 2003 | 391 words

I happened across a webpage full of quotes and started to ponder over this one: I don't want to be rich and famous. I want to be rich and anonymous. -- Anonymous My first thought was sure, I wouldn't mind the...

Be Honest

· 9 October 2003 | 156 words

Another coincidence in light of some of my recent entries? From today's official church reading is Luke 11:9-10: And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door...

Wrestling with God

· 9 October 2003 | 323 words

What a coincident! In light of some of my recent journal entries, I happened to open up a daily prayer book for 2003 this morning and found a very timely reading. The ironic thing is that I have not opened...

Kairos — God’s Time

· 9 October 2003 | 889 words

The other day while I was mulling over how to write about my journey to the edge of the desert, I realized that another metaphor for the desert, a metaphor less frightening to me, was the word kairos. The ancient...

You have been told…

· 8 October 2003 | 90 words

I think of this verse from Micah 6:8 in some of my darker or confused moments: You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: Only to do the right and to...

To the Edge of the Desert

· 6 October 2003 | 1294 words

The spirit enters a wilderness and travels blindly in directions that seem to lead away from vision, away from God, away from all fulfillment and joy. It may become almost impossible to believe that this road goes anywhere at all except to a desolation full of dry bones--the ruin of all our hopes and good intentions.

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Faith Archives (164 entries)