The church is, above all, a place to receive grace: it brings forgiven people together with the aim of equipping us to dispense grace to others.

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.

Get used to it. Life doesn't give, it takes. Anything worth having is worth fighting for.

Old age is a special problem for me because I've never been able to shed the mental image I have of myself - a lad of about 19.

I see at intervals the glance of a curious sort of bird through the close set bars of a cage: a vivid, restless, resolute captive is there; were it but free, it would soar cloud-high.

Even if we remain flexible, we need ground rules.

You can put a gardener behind the wheel, but you can't keep her eyes off the landscape.

I often times find with movies that the heavier the onscreen situation is, the more levity there is off screen. It's almost out of necessity.

I'm often moved by the circumstances around some of my characters, but I don't think I've actually cried watching myself.

The real secret is to build an organization that isn't afraid to make changes while it is still successful, before change becomes imperative for survival.

Passion gives me emotional strength... Passion means power!

The idealism of the left is a very selfish idealism. In their war against 'the rich' and big business, they don't care how much collateral damage there is to workers who end up end up unemployed.