For me, the world of nature bears spectacular witness to the imaginative genius of our Creator.

I never see God. I seldom run into visual clues that remind me of God unless I am looking. The act of looking, the pursuit itself, makes possible the encounter. For this reason, Christianity has always insisted that trust and obedience come first, and knowledge follows.

I do not get to know God and then do His will. I get to know Him by doing His will.

When suffering happens, it forces us to confront life in a different way than we normally do.

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.

If we comprehend what Christ has done for us, then surely out of gratitude we will strive to live 'worthy' of such great love. We will strive for holiness not to make God love us but because He already does.

Whatever else it is, the kingdom of God is decidedly not a call to violent revolution.