You're never without hope, because you're never without prayer.

People assume when they come into a church and see a person up there speaking, 'That person must be a good person.' My challenge through the years has been believing that: 'I guess I must be a really good person.' I struggle with it. It just helps me to keep that confessional posture.

I'm convinced that the Christian claim is really true, that this is just a warm up to the big event. That this is just the appetizer to the feast, and if we can plug into that and understand that this part of our story is just the introduction, it is not even the first line of the first paragraph, it's just the first letter or first word. We are just getting started.

We enjoy the fruit of the first coming but anticipate the glory of the second.

Hope is not a granted wish or a favor performed; no it is far greater than that. It is a zany, unpredictable dependence on a God who loves to surprise us out of our socks.

God never said that the journey would be easy, but He did say that the arrival would be worthwhile.

Let's try to present the same gospel but in a fresh fashion, always looking for a better way to connect with the audience.