If preachers decide to preach about hope, let them preach out of what they themselves hope for.

Lord, catch me off guard today. Surprise me with some moment of beauty or pain so that at least for the moment, I may be startled into seeing that you are here in all your splendor, always and everywhere, barely hidden, beneath, beyond, within this life I breathe.

Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid.

To be commanded to love God at all, let alone in the wilderness, is like being commanded to be well when we are sick, to sing for joy when we are dying of thirst, to run when our legs are broken. But this is the first and great commandment nonetheless. Even in the wilderness - especially in the wilderness - you shall love him.

Wherever people love each other and are true to each other and take risks for each other, God is with them and for them and they are doing God's will.

What's lost is nothing to what's found, and all the death that ever was, set next to life, would scarcely fill a cup.

If the truth is worth telling, it is worth making a fool of yourself to tell it.