Prayer is a place where God and humans meet.

I fell in love. It felt exactly like a fall, a head-over-heels tumble into a state of unbearable lightness. The earth tilted on its axis. I did not believe in romantic love at the time, thinking it a human construct, an invention of fourteenth century Italian poets. I was as unprepared for love as I had been for goodness and beauty. Suddenly, my heart seemed swollen, too large for my chest.

By focusing too myopically on what we want God to do on our behalf, we may miss the significance of what he has already done.

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.

We can’t expect the nation to operate by Christian principles… but we can expect this of the church.

I doubt God keeps track of how many arguments we win; God may indeed keep track of how well we love.

Parents learn the uses of power and its limits. They can insist on certain outward behavior but cannot change inner attitudes. They can require obedience but not goodness - and certainly not love.