If unconditional love, loyalty, and obedience are the tickets to an eternal life, then my black Labrador, Venus, will surely be there long before me, along with all the dear animals in nature who care for their young at great cost to themselves and have suffered so much at the hands of humans.

Whole people see and create wholeness wherever they go; split people see and create splits in everything and everybody.

It is so important to balance orthodoxy with orthopraxy.

The gift of darkness draws you to know God’s presence beyond what thought, imagination, or sensory feeling can comprehend.

If you work with such people almost on the level of spiritual direction, you see that they are people who prefer a world view of order and even punitiveness. And for some reason, there's a feeling that the male psyche is going to give that to them. And if that's your view of religion, which it is for many people, if they've never come to the mystical level, religion is for social order and to maintain social order.

It's important to note that Jesus and Christ are two different faith affirmations. Hardly any Christians have been taught that - they think "Christ" is Jesus's last name.

God is always drawing us closer, blow by blow and bit by bit. And most of the time we do not even know it is happening.