Truly, God's plan of redemption is about more than me and you and our neighbor down the street. It's about men and women from every tribe, tongue, and nation on earth becoming a part of His covenant community.

Jesus doesn't avoid those who mess up. Jesus runs to those who mess up.

I don't believe in the end that God gave me cancer, but He certainly could have stopped it and didn't.

When I think about sanctification, a couple things immediately pop into my head. One is how slow it actually is. I think everybody wants the silver-bullet, the thing that makes sanctification move like a superhighway rather than the dirt path that it is. The other is that, by in large, the greatest single asset in ongoing sanctification is a serious pursuit of joy in the face of Jesus Christ.

What stirs up in my heart is, 'Oh would we see an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.'

Comfort is the god of our generation, so suffering is seen as a problem to be solved, and not a providence from God.

I think people can get a little weirded out by pain, suffering, and death. They don't know what to do so they end up saying things that are hurtful to people who have experienced loss.