Hope knows that if great trials are avoided great deeds remain undone and the possibility of growth into greatness of soul is aborted.

In Love's service, only wounded soldiers can serve.

The ragamuffin gospel says we can't lose, because we have nothing to lose.

The ragamuffin who sees his life as a voyage of discovery and runs the risk of failure has a better feel for faithfulness than the timid man who hides behind the law and never finds out who he is at all.

Christianity doesn’t deny the reality of suffering and evil… Our hope… is not based on the idea that we are going to be free of pain and suffering. Rather, it is based on the conviction that we will triumph over suffering.

Our huffing and puffing to impress God, our scrambling for brownie points, our thrashing about trying to fix ourselves while hiding our pettiness and wallowing in guilt are nauseating to God and are a flat denial of the gospel of grace.

How glorious the splendor of a human heart that trusts that it is loved!