Grace is heartfelt, tinged with love, a spillover gift of the God who extended undeserved favor toward us.

As a writer, I play with words all day long. I toy with them, listen for their overtones, crack them open, and try to stuff my thoughts inside.

The world is not against you, but the world is a place where bad things happen. It's just true. Airlines crash, people do evil things. A lot of bad things happen and it causes pain.

I go to church as an expression of my need for God and for God's family.

I begin with confession not in order to feel miserable, rather to call to mind a reality I often ignore. When I acknowledge where I stand before a perfect God, it restores the true state of the universe. Confession simply establishes the proper ground rules of creatures relating to their creator.

The world thirsts for grace. When grace descends, the world falls silent before it.

The Bible never belittles human disappointment ... but it does add one key word: temporary.