Don't create theology about God so that you can feel better about Him.

The work of God in the cross of Christ strikes us as awe-inspiring only after we have first been awed by the glory of God.

The drug of choice in the modern age is levity. We want everything to be light and bubbly. We just want to feel good.

Church is missing transcendence. My generation was raised on a religion of moral control. Do this. Don't do that. And a lot of self-help religion. Feel better. Get out of debt. Six ways to overcome your fears. Seven ways not to lust. Ultimately that message didn't work. It was empty. There was no transcendence. The omniscient, omnipresent, all-powerful God of the universe wasn't the focus.

While we lament the apparent injustice of pain and suffering, how often do we forget that every good thing in a fallen world is wholly a gift of God's mercy and grace.

The cross of Christ exists because mankind-loved by God, created by God, set in motion by God-betrayed God and prefers his stuff to him.

Could it not be, that God loves me too deeply, by having people challenge me so that I know I'm not perfect.