Pain narrows vision. The most private of sensations, it forces us to think of ourselves and little else.

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.

The visible success you achieve is the result of what you have done inside you

As a leader, the first person I need to lead is me. The first person that I should try to change is me.

Memory has no power but what the soul chooses to make of it.

My soul, be satisfied with flowers, with fruit, with weeds even; but gather them in the one garden you may call your own.

To drink for pleasure may be a distraction, but to drink from misery is always a danger.

We've more important studies than your fantasies and fears You know that rock's been perched up there for a hundred thousand years.

Don't know much, but I know I love you.

I got to read some writings by serial killers, and they got inside my head. They were quite disturbing. I read disturbing stuff about that very detached way of manipulating people to do things.

As the cause is, so the effect will be Cause is never different from effect, the effect is but the cause reproduced in another form.

We all have a lot more to read than we can read and a lot more to do than we can do.