“Both hope and pessimism are deeply contagious. And no one is more infectious than a leader.”

Over and over in the Bible, it is fear that threatens to keep people from trusting and obeying God.

Going in faith does not necessarily mean going with serenity or without doubts. Faith can be difficult.

God is a God of endless opportunities to do good; the God of the open door.

If we are serious about loving God, we must begin with people, all people. And especially we must learn to love those that the world generally discards.

Waiting on the Lord is a confident, disciplined, expectant, active, sometimes painful clinging to God.

You can only love and be loved to the extent that you know and are known by somebody.

One reason why we fail to hear God speak is that we are not attentive. We suffer from what might be called ‘spiritual mindlessness.’

True love is willing to warn, reprove, confront or admonish when necessary.

Failure does not shape you; the way you respond to failure shapes you.

Real question is not who was this man (Jesus), but who is this man?

We are too often double espresso followers of a decaf Sovereign.

Make your life about something bigger than your life.

To become truly free, you must surrender.

The Holy Spirit says: You are it. You are God’s plan. In a thirsty world, people need to be refreshed. It is a broken world, and people need to be healed. Now get out there and do it!

The good news as Jesus preached it is not just about the minimal entrance requirements for getting into heaven when you die. It is about the glorious redemption of human life-your life.

The character of the faith that allows us to be transformed by suffering and darkness is not doubt-free certainty; rather, it is tenacious obedience.

Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action. Grace, you know, does not just have to do with forgiveness of sins alone.

This is precisely different from the childish but common religious notion that even when you are alone there is always Someone Else present

Yelling and screaming won’t really get what I want from my kids.

Wise people build their lives around what is eternal and squeeze in what is temporary. Not the other way around.

I have to be a calmer person, because my anger can look pretty terrifying to a young person.

The worst reaction someone can have is, “eh.”

Security wins many battles but loses the security war.

Sometimes I feel that every word spoken and every gesture made merely serve to exacerbate misunderstandings. Then what I would really like is to escape into a great silence and impose that silence on everyone else.