I didn't realize that I was in a self-made prison of human approval and human acceptance. Didn't even realize it. Most of the prisons we live in we are not conscious of.

Your identity is firmly anchored in Christ's accomplishment, not yours; his strength, not yours; his performance, not yours; his victory, not yours.

The people who tend to be the most gracious are those who know how badly they need grace

Legalism says God will love us if we change. The gospel says God will change us because He loves us.

God's acceptance of us cannot be gained by our successes nor forfeited by our failures.

God's ability to clean things up is infinitely greater than our ability to mess things up.

The desperate addict is closer to the heart of grace than the devout moralist.

Here's one way I can know that I've forgotten the gospel of grace: when your sin bothers me more than my sin.

Christianity is not about good people getting better. It is good news for bad people coping with their failure to be good.

If people knew the REAL us, they would run. God knows, stays, and loves.

Nothing makes me want to obey more than knowing that God unconditionally loves me and forgives me even when I disobey.

Forever, time is standing still. We are flying away with the wings of desire we call life.

I remember the stink of the liverwurst. How I was put on a platter and laid between the mayonnaise and the bacon. The rhythm of the refrigerator had been disturbed.

With randomness it is very unlikely to be embarrassed, but even if you get embarrassed, you can't replicate it.

In love, 100 pennies do not equal a dollar.

About the time we get old enough to be as wicked as we want to be, we don't want to be so very wicked after all.

I think my characters - well, at least a few of them - are hoping or searching for some kind of contact with god.

It ain’t wilderness unless there’s a critter out there that can kill you and eat you.

There's always pressure but I change that pressure into motivation.

It is straightforward — and never mind, for now, about plagues and famines: if God existed, and if he cared for humankind, he would never have given us religion.

Language and accents govern so much of how people think about other people.