There is an "offense" to the Gospel no matter how graciously we present it. It includes the message that God, not humanity, is the ultimate judge of right and wrong, and that the choices we make here have eternal consequences.

Often, it seems, we're [Christians] perceived more as guilt dispensers than as grace dispensers.

People who think they are free eventually end up slaves to their own desires, and those who give their freedom away to the only One you can trust with that freedom eventually get it back.

Prayer is - keeping company with God.

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

Jesus reserved his hardest words for the hidden sins of hypocrisy, pride, greed and legalism.

We are all trophies of God's grace, some more dramatically than others; Jesus came for the sick and not the well, for the sinner and not the righteous. He came to redeem and transform, to make all things new. May you go forth more committed than ever to nourish the souls who you touch, those tender lives who have sustained the enormous assaults of the universe. (pp.88)