The Imperfect Pastor by Zack Eswine might be the most helpful and profound book I've read in years. If you're in pastoral ministry grab a copy.

My sin in the past: forgiven. My current struggles: covered. My future failures: paid in full all by the marvelous, infinite, matchless grace found in the atoning work of the cross of Jesus Christ.

God is awesome; he doesn’t need you to be awesome. He wants you to be obedient.

Love says: I've seen the ugly parts of you, and I'm staying. Our culture doesn't love love; It loves the idea of love. It wants the emotion without the sacrifice.

If you’re a church person and not a Jesus person, my heart hurts for you. It’s like being engaged and never getting married. It’s miserable.

The more you make this world about you, the more miserable you will be.

Comfort is the god of our generation, so suffering is seen as a problem to be solved, and not a providence from God.

No change of job, no increased income, no new home, no new electronic device, or no new spouse is going to make things better inside of you.

God is at work in the mess. That's the message of the Bible. That's why the Bible is not pretty. That's why it's grimy, because God is working in the mess. He's working in the tears.

Faith doesn’t mean an absence of fear. It means facing fear and trusting that God’s goodness is greater.

God does not regret saving you. There is no sin which you commit which is beyond the cross of Christ.

The danger in trying to do good is that the mind comes to confuse the intent of goodness with the act of doing things well.

Whatever the misery, he could not regain contentment with a world which, once doubted, became absurd.

The birds in the sky can never great the king yet their beauty gives the king to stare at them endlessly, wishing to be with them in the sky.

I forgot he [Barack Obama] was black tonight for an hour.

All our failures are ultimately failures in love.

Planned obsolescence is another word for progress.

In my subconscious, my books were part of a single emotional journey.

From a very young age, I was the kind of kid you can just put anywhere and I'd still find stuff to be stoked about.

With a written agreement you have a prayer; with a verbal agreement you have nothing but air.

American politicians have openly said that the sanctions are aimed at bringing about regime change in Russia. That's aggressive enough.