But to mean it when I say that I want my life to count for His glory is to drive a stake through the heart of self - a painful and determined dying to me that must be a part of every day I live.

Passion is the degree of difficulty we are willing to endure to accomplish the goal.

There's something that's not right or not perfect or not the way we had hoped or dreamed that it was going to be. But God promises that He will use everything and every moment to ultimately take us to a new Heaven and a new Earth. For now, we're stuck in the middle.

The two great moments in human history are the day that Christ was born and the day He was raised from the dead. These are represented by Christmas and Easter - the two biggest holidays for the church. People who don't even go to church do go on these days.

We may say we value this thing or that thing more than any other, but the volume of our actions speaks louder than our words.

The word advent means "expectation." What advent can do for us is create a sense of hope.

I'm dead in the water if I can't see the all sufficient glory of God.