To be patient in an emergency is a terrible trial.

Returning from the wilderness a man becomes a restorer of order, a preserver. He sees the truth, recognizes his true heir, honors his forbears and his heritage, and gives his blessing to his successors. He embodies the passing of human time, living and dying within the human limits of grief and joy.

It is the man who can think of no alternative to his enslavement who is truly a slave.

People are always talking about the first church. The real first church was that gaggle of people who followed Jesus around. We don't know anything about them. But he apparently didn't ask them what creed they subscribed to, or what their sexual preference was, or any of that. He fed them. He healed them. He forgave them. He is clear about sin, but he was also for forgiveness.

Having hope is hard; harder when you get older.

Thinking is the most overrated human activity.

It was a country . . . that he and his people had known how to use and abuse, but not how to preserve.