As a general rule, I would say that human beings never behave more badly toward one another than when they believe they are protecting God.

I don't have time for a job that doesn't leave me time to be quiet or still or to pray.

I began to get notes from people saying they were sorry to hear I'd left ministry. And for a while, I halfway believed they were right, that I'd left.

I think my idea of God was much more directive than my idea of God now, that is, a God who had one plan in mind for me, perhaps, and my job was to find out what it was and obey.

God does some of God's best work with people who are seriously lost.

With so much effort being poured into church growth, so much press being given to the benefits of faith, and so much flexing of religious muscle in the public square, the poor in spirit have no one but Jesus to call them blessed anymore.

The tradition piece is so embedded in me I don't know that I can see it any more, but the community piece is one I've been in danger of losing.