To get God on your side is a great way to feel powerful.

Wisdom is not gained by knowing what is right. Wisdom is gained by practicing what is right, and noticing what happens when that practice succeeds and when it fails.

Humanity can be pretty stinky.

I found myself in a maze where I'd taken the wrong turn. In my wish to do well for that congregation I wasn't doing particularly well for myself or my friends or my family, and I even found that the work for God was taking me away from God.

If God is about putting God ahead of myself then I've just quit being religious, because that's what got me into such deep trouble.

When someone asks us where we want to be in our lives, the last thing that occurs to us is to look down at our feet and say, 'Here, I guess, since this is where I am.'

There was no time anymore to be quiet or still or pray. So, in many ways, that's what led to my downward spin.