Eugene Peterson points out that "the root meaning in Hebrew of salvation is to be broad, to become spacious, to enlarge. It carries the sense of deliverance from an existence that has become compressed, confined and cramped." God wants to set free, to make it possible for us to live open and loving lives with God and our neighbors. "I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free," wrote the psalmist.

Christian faith is... basically about love and being loved and reconciliation. These things are so important, they're foundational and they can transform individuals, families.

The self-sacrificing, servant aspect of the Christian life has many parallels to parenthood.

Grace is everywhere, like lenses that go unnoticed because you are looking through them.

The problem of pain meets its match in the scandal of grace.

The promise of pleasures so alluring that we may devote our lives to their pursuit, and then the haunting realization that these pleasures ultimately do not satisfy.

The church is, above all, a place to receive grace: it brings forgiven people together with the aim of equipping us to dispense grace to others.