Christianity offers not merely a consolation but a restoration - not just of the life we had but of the life we always wanted but never achieved. And because the joy will be even greater for all that evil, this means the final defeat of all those forces that would have destroyed the purpose of God in creation, namely, to live with his people in glory and delight forever.

The most liberating act of free, unconditional grace demands that the recipient give up control of his or her life.

Grace is the free, unmerited favor of God, working powerfully on the mind and heart to change lives.

Most churches make the mistake of selecting as leaders the confident, the competent, and the successful. But what you most need in a leader is someone who has been broken by the knowledge of his or her sin, and even greater knowledge of Jesus' costly grace

At the end of history the whole earth has become the Garden of God again. Death and decay and suffering are gone. . . . Jesus will make the world our perfect home again. We will no longer be living 'east of Eden,' always wandering and never arriving. We will come, and the father will meet us and embrace us, and we will be brought into the feast.

Living is giving....If you spend your money on yourself, you are just surviving. But if you want your life to count, if you want to really live - give.

Prayer is awe, intimacy, struggle-yet, the way to reality.