I write about everything, but I just - how faith filters through all that and colors your opinion of other people and life and all that.

The more time you invest in a marriage, the more valuable it becomes.

Do I think all contemporary Christian music is good? No.

But my experience is that people who have been through painful, difficult times are filled with compassion.

Every good relationship, especially marriage, is based on respect. If it's not based on respect, nothing that appears to be good will last very long.

If I had my life to live over again, I'd run barefoot, relax a bit more, I'd talk more to children, and I'd learn how they laugh.

Get outside. Watch the sunrise. Watch the sunset. How does that make you feel? Does it make you feel big or tiny? Because there's something good about feeling both.

More important than talent, strength, or knowledge is the ability to laugh at yourself and enjoy the pursuit of your dreams.

Anybody who's ever gone through a hard time - any outsider's perception, no matter how much information they're given, they have no idea what the person's life is like.

I can look at the future with anticipation. And it's comforting to know that someday, as Christians, we'll be able to look back and have a little more clarity on why certain things in life happened.

I feel a part of the congregation. I've never had to do special music. The kids sing in the choir. It's just normal. We're treated like everybody else.

Prayer is a jouney, a path that is created only by walking it. It creates and reveals oneself in the process.

Magic will find those with pure heats, even when all seems lost. And love is the greatest magic of all. I know this to be true.

The pleasure of criticism takes away from us the pleasure of being deeply moved by very fine things.

Democracy is all about not electing the wrong man-eating lizard.

Dakota Fanning is my favorite actress.

I love this simply because it's cute, and I guess it's a sign of the times in many respect. It's pretty much saying you complete me, only in the sweetest way possible.

If you wisely invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life.

My work was entirely nonfiction.

I think people ought to do what they feel useful at the time. If I do things because I ought to do them, I switch off.

What motivated me to dedicate myself to public service for nearly two-thirds of my life was the chance to produce results for those people who entrusted me to be their voice and their champion.