The heavens are not filled with hostility. The sky does not express a frown. When I look up I do not contemplate a face of brass, but the face of infinite good will. Yet when I was a child, many a picture has made me think of God as suspicious, inhumanly watchful, always looking round the corner to catch me at the fall. That "eye," placed in the sky of many a picture, and placed there to represent God, filled my heart with chilling fear. . . . Heaven overflows with good will toward us! Our God not only wishes good, he wills it!

...Prayer is not always petition, sometimes it is just communion. It is the exquisite ministry of friendship.

Death is not the master of the house, he is only the porter of the king's lodge.

May my life be like a great hospitable tree, and may weary wanderers find in me a rest.

All vital praying makes a drain on a man's vitality. True intercession is a sacrifice, a bleeding sacrifice.

Let us sing even when we do not feel like it, for in this way we give wings to heavy feet and turn weariness into strength.

Preaching that costs nothing accomplishes nothing.