The story of Christian reformation, revival, and renaissance underscores that the darkest hour is often just before the dawn, so we should always be people of hope and prayer, not gloom and defeatism. God the Holy Spirit can turn the situation around in five minutes.

Too often we forget that the great men of faith reached the heights they did only by going through the depths.

We may be in the dark about what God is *doing*, but we are not in the dark about God.

Anti-intellectualism is a disposition to discount the importance of truth and the life of the mind.

We may at times be unemployed, but no one ever becomes uncalled.

Jesus made clear that the Kingdom of God is organic and not organizational. It grows like a seed and it works like leaven: secretly, invisibly, surprisingly, and irresistibly.

This is also why it is wrong to treat God as a grand employment agency, a celestial executive searcher to find perfect fits for our perfect gifts. The truth is not that God is finding a place for our gifts but that God has created us and our gifts for a place of his choosing – and we will only be ourselves when we are finally there.