I didn't need to understand the hypostatic unity of the Trinity; I just needed to turn my life over to whoever came up with redwood trees.

Charles had once remarked that holding onto a resentment was like eating rat poison and waiting for the rat to die.

I do not have deep theological understanding or opinion, but I do not read the Bible as the literal word of God.

You are desperate to communicate, to edify or entertain, to preserve moments of grace or joy or transcendence, to make real or imagined events come alive. But you cannot will this to happen. It is a matter of persistence and faith and hard work. So you might as well just go ahead and get started.

Then the singing enveloped me. It was furry and resonant, coming from everyone's very heart. There was no sense of performance or judgment, only that the music was breath and food.

Frequently, as so many poets and psalmists and songwriters have said, the invisible shift happens through the broken places.

Your experiences will be yours alone. But truth and best friendship will rarely if ever disappoint you.