God's salvation does not come in response to a changed life. A changed life comes in response to the salvation, offered as a free gift.

Suffering is actually at the heart of the Christian story.

Disordered love always leads to misery and breakdown. The only way to 'reorder' our loves is to love God supremely.

We've got at least two other streams of that are filled with good, helpful material on meditation - the Catholic stream and the Quaker stream that are not primarily based on meditating on the Scripture.

The world values power, comfort, success, and recognition. Jesus frees us to value grief, sacrifice, weakness, and exclusion.

Prayer is never just an emergency flare or desperate anxious gamble. God's attention is not based on our performance but parental love.

Big cities have a lot of 'younger brothers' who have left traditional parts of the world and their families for a more liberal lifestyle. But cities are filled to the gills with 'elder brothers' too.