It often takes suffering and lost in order to remind us of how precious life is.

Enjoy mystery and speculation, but don't drift into dogma.

My interest is in what's true, where is the life, where is the heart and what inspires.

A good sermon is going to disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. It inspires you. It provokes you. It should make your soul soar.

This is why for thousands of years Christians have found the cross to be so central to life. It speaks to us of God's suffering, God's pain, God's broken heart. It's God making the first move and then waiting for our response.

When I talk about the God who is with us, for us, and ahead of us, I'm talking about our facing that which most terrifies us about ourselves, embracing it and fearing it no longer, refusing to allow it to exist separate from the rest of our being, resting assured that we are loved and we belong and we are going to be just fine.

If we are serious about loving someone, we have to surrender all the desires within us to manipulate the relationship.