“Churches can become places of cynicism, resistance, and pessimism.”

Passion for our work is not usually a subterranean volcano waiting to erupt. It is a muscle that gets strengthened a little each day as we show up – as we do what is expected of us, and then some.

Nobody lives up to the norms that God had in mind when he first created human beings.

Grace is the offer of God’s ceaseless presence and irrational love that cannot be stopped.

When I teach the formal curriculum, I have the chance to think about it ahead of time. I can rehearse it. I can illustrate it with self-deprecating humor and humble-sounding personal disclosure. I can try to make it comes out just right.

Peace doesn’t come from finding a lake with no storms. It comes from having Jesus in the boat.

If you want to do the work of God, pay attention to people. Notice them. Especially the people nobody else notices.

Biblically, waiting is not just something we have to do until we get what we want. Waiting is part of the process of becoming what God wants us to be.

Solitude is the one place where we can gain freedom from the forces of society that will otherwise relentlessly mold us. Solitude requires relentless perseverance.

The goal is not for us to get through the Scriptures. The goal is to get the Scriptures through us.

The test of love is that it gives even when there is no expectation of a return.

The Holy Spirit will lead you to be with people as Jesus would be with them if He were in your place.

Willpower is trying very hard not to do something you want to do very much.

One of the hardest things in the world is to stop being the prodigal son without turning into the elder brother.

I am disappointed with myself. I am disappointed not so much with the particular things I have done as with the aspects of who I have become. I have a nagging sense that all is not as it should be.

Habits eat good intentions for breakfast.

Love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible. Love always takes time, and time is the one thing hurried people don’t have.

The ministry of bearing with one another is learning to hear God speak through difficult people.

We participate in the creation of the world by decreating ourselves.

At the age of three my grand aunt proclaimed her independence by categorically refusing to have her feet bound, resolutely tearing off the bandages as fast as they were applied.

Never call a man a fool; borrow from him

This music is my heart and soul. This is who I am.” (Adam R. Young, 2006)

I guess the answer to the question would be I’m inspired by the work of those (and sometimes even the people themselves) who strive to inspire.

Diligence is not easy, but we can’t reach our goals without it.

We always may be what we might have been.