If you work hard, stay focused, and never give up, you will eventually get what you want in life.
The thing I loved about her was that I never felt like she was selling anything. She would talk to God as if she knew Him, as if she had talked to Him on the phone that day. She was never ashamed which is the thing with some Christians I had encountered.
Naked people look funny when they are for-real naked, outside-a-magazine naked.
I think the devil has tricked us into thinking so much of biblical theology is story fit for kids.
I listened so hard because it felt like, while she was telling me stories, she was massaging my soul, letting me know that I was not alone, that I will never have to be alone, that there are friends and family and churches and coffee shops. I was not going to be cast into space.
It is a pretty good idea to make some noises when you are at a play.
Of all the principles I’d learn about story, the idea that a character is what he does remains the hardest to actually live.
Reality is like fine wine: it does not appeal to children.
And once you know what it takes to live a better story, you don’t have a choice. Not living a better story would be like deciding to die, deciding to walk around numb until you die, and it’s not natural to want to die.
What I’m saying is I think life is staggering and we’re just used to it. We are all like spoiled children no longer impressed with the gifts we’re given – it’s just another sunset, just another rainstorm moving in over the mountain, just another child being born, just another funeral.
I have sometimes wondered if the greatest desire of man is to be known and loved anyway.
And so I have come to understand that strength, inner strength, comes from receiving love as much as it comes from giving it.
What I believe is not what I say I believe; what I believe is what I do.
I can no more understand the totality of God than the pancake I made for breakfast understands the complexity of me.
You can’t tell a good story without conflict – the story can’t be beautiful or meaningful. We’re taught to run from conflict, and it’s robbing us of some really good stories.
How disappointing would it be get to heaven and find out God created life to be enjoyed while all we did was worry?
And once you live a good story, you get a taste for a kind of meaning in life, and you can’t go back to being normal; you can’t go back to meaningless scenes stitched together by the forgettable thread of wasted time.
There is something beautiful about a billion stars held steady by a God who knows what He is doing.
Your life is a blank page. You write on it.
Believing in God is as much like falling in love as it is making a decision. Love is both something that happens to you and something you decide upon.