Anger is the noise of the soul; the unseen irritant of the heart; the relentless invader of silence.

The manger dares us to believe the best is yet to be. And it could all begin today.

We are Jesus Christ's; we belong to him. But even more, we are increasingly him. He moves in and commandeers our hands and feet, requisitions our minds and tongues. We sense his rearranging: debris into the divine, pig's ear into silk purse. He repurposes bad decisions and squalid choices. Little by little, a new image emerges.

You have a God who hears you, the power of love behind you, the Holy Spirit within you, and all of heaven ahead of you. If you have the Shepherd, you have grace for every sin, direction for every turn, a candle for every corner and an anchor for every storm. You have everything you need.

I try to help people see that God uses pain, that pain is one of the ways God shapes us into the kind of beings He wants us to be for eternity.

Of all the things you must earn in life, God's unending affection is not one of them. You have it.

When grace happens, generosity happens. Unsquashable, eyepopping bigheartedness happens.