As Ecclesiastes tells it, a wholesale devotion to pleasure will, paradoxically, lead to a state of utter despair.

When I pray for another person, I am praying for God to open my eyes so that I can see that person as God does, and then enter into the stream of love that God already directs toward that person.

I have learned that faith means trusting in advance what will make sense only in reverse.

Yet as I read the birth stories about Jesus I cannot help but conclude that though the world may be tilted toward the rich and powerful, God is tilted toward the underdog.

In a nutshell, the Bible from Genesis 3 to Revelation 22 tells the story of a God reckless with desire to get his family back.

Grace, like water, flows to the lowest part.

The proof of spiritual maturity is not how pure you are but awareness of your impurity. That very awareness opens the door to grace.

Any discussion of how pain and suffering fit into God's scheme ultimately leads back to the cross.

No one ever converted to Christianity because they lost the argument.

In the stories of extravagant grace given to us by Jesus, there are no loopholes disqualifying us from God's love.

I doubt God keeps track of how many arguments we win; God may indeed keep track of how well we love.

They call her love, love, love, love, love. She is love, and she is all I need.

To predict the behavior of ordinary people in advance, you only have to assume that they will always try to escape a disagreeable situation with the smallest possible expenditure of intelligence.

The whole earth is the tomb of heroic men and their story is not given only on stone over their clay but abides everywhere without visible symbol woven into the stuff of other mens lives.

In a major matter no details are small.

All my trust in the politicians had been rubbed away.

Golf is the only game in which a precise knowledge of the rules can earn one a reputation for bad sportsmanship.

I just hope that my films will survive me.

I'm not claiming to be anything out of the ordinary. I am not especially big or strong or brave or intrepid.

By the time I got to the Fox studio for my first major film, I knew how to hit a mark. I knew how to memorize lines. I knew how to pay attention.

The more you read and observe about this Politics thing, the more you've got to admit that each party is worse than the other.