“He asks if we’ll give up that thing we’re so proud of, that thing we believe causes us to matter in the eyes of the world, and give it up to follow Him. He’s asking us, ‘Will you take what you think defines you, leave it behind, and let Me define who you are instead?’”

I used to want to fix people, but now I just want to be with them.

Living a life of following Christ means constant interruptions.

Whatever you’re aiming for, God’s better.

What I’ve learned the more time I’ve spent following Jesus is that God delights in answering our impossible prayers.

Cynicism is fear posing as confidence; joy is hope let off the leash.

Small streams don’t plan to be mighty rivers. We just move in a direction; God decides what He’ll have us become.

The world will figure out what we really believe, by watching what we actually do.

We keep asking for answers; God keeps sending us people.

I used to think God wouldn’t talk to me, but now I know I’m just selective with what I choose to hear.

Grace means we don’t need to airbrush our lives to make them look like they’re working.

We get to be God’s plan for the whole world by pointing people toward Him.

There’s a lot to be concerned about; there’s more to be hopeful for.

Love is never stationary.

I once heard somebody say that God had closed a door on an opportunity they had hoped for. But I’ve always wondered if when we want to do something that we know is right and good,

I know that sounds so circular, but for you, what you were made to do, is different than what I was made to do.

God delights in answering our impossible prayers.

And we use it to read album reviews and watch kitten videos… not to put those two things in the same light!

This is one of the magical things about drawing – it gives us almost visionary moments of connectedness.

You will be surprised at how many good things you can observe in them and comment upon.

If people know we expect good things from them, they will in most cases go to great lengths to live up to our expectations.

That’s the great thing about New Year’s, you get to be a year older.

As I understand it, a universe is a … well, a totality. A universe is everything that is, as far as the inside of the thing.

The Waste Land not figuring very largely in Mam’s scheme of things. “The thing is,” I said finally, “he won the Nobel Prize.” “Well,” she said, with that unerring grasp of inessentials which is the prerogative of mothers, “I’m not surprised. It was a beautiful overcoat.”

Amid all the negativity at Newcastle, we achieved some great things.