Authors From The United States

"I honestly don't believe we will be solving the greater human conflict with our efforts. The problem is not a certain type of legislation or even a certain politician; the problem is the same that it has always been. I am the problem."

"I believe that the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil but rather have us wasting time. This is why the devil tries so hard to get Christians to be religious. If he can sink a man's mind into habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging God."

"Some people skip through life; some people are dragged through it. I sometimes wonder whether we are moving through time or time is moving through us."

"Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way."

"In America, the first generation out of slavery invented jazz music. It is a free-form expression. It comes from the soul and it is true."

"Many of us associate the Christian faith as a list of do's and dont's, to be sure. But the Christian life is to be oriented in relationship, why is there so much talk of formula? Could it be that the reason we are more interested in forumla than relationship is that we would like to deal with our need for religion without dealing with the complications of relationship? That even though we have chosen the Christian faith instead of "poppycock religion," we ultimately want the same thing as the pagan? And what is that? Easy answers, comfortable sentiments, beliefs that make us feel good. So we go through the motions. We go to our churches, we read our self-help books, we watch our religious television, and we check each item off our to-do list as if we were doing work for pay. One thing I am sure of. This is not the kind of real-life faith I'm looking for."

"The multitude of formulas (for living the Christian life with success) proposed by Christian writers, preacher, conference speakers, and televangelists simply confuse me. They have different ideas about how it is done, offering promises of fulfillment and joy based on three easy steps, four points of action, or the five smooth stones that David threw."

"It is the occupation of a Christian to glorify God."

"It is Christianity, I believe, that truly faces the facts of reality. The Christian does not try to create his or her own reality. Our search for the truth leads us to Christ. Faith costs something (as all things of worth do) and obedience is hard, but God has poured out His love for us and given us the grace that empowers us to obey."

"Poppycock religion is America's new faith. It is easy. It is quick. It allows a person to feel spiritual, seem intellectual, have a faith to follow, and have something interesting to talk about over coffee. Poppycock is the quick-fix diet of the spiritual industry. It sells. It rarely threatens or confronts the seeker, allowing each to forge his own individual "religion." The poppycock believer changes the rules as he goes. If he misses a basket, he will say that a missd basket is still worth two points. The poppycock believer does not serve his god, rather his god serves him. He has everything to gain and nothing to lose."

"Cupid is fat and slow and can't hit moving targets."

"Well, a lot of times we are looking for a sign that tells us we're godly. We want to preach, or be a missionary or whatever, all to help ourselves believe that God is using us. We look everywhere but to God to make us feel godly. We try to convince others we are godly so that we can convince ourselves we are godly. The bottom line is that godliness is about relationship, not about image"

"But I think that God does not so much take us from point A to point B in the physical world as He takes us from not knowing Him to knowing Him."

"I'm saying that a lot of Christians want to be recognized for their godliness, and a lot of people mistake the recognition for godliness itself."

""I think that is a big problem with a lot of Christians," Paul begins. "We want to feel special. And there are times when it does, you know. But not all the time. Sometimes life just feels like life. We have to put our faith in God."

"When we ask ourselves if we are walking with Christ, I believe we need to ask oursleves this question: Has Christ changed the way I view the world lately?"

"The more I ponder God's way, the more I believe He changes a person, or molds a person through enlightenment. He changes a person's mind."

"Life is, without a doubt, complex and confusing. My faith is my sanity. There are people who choose to live on the surface of things. I have yet to find the surface. And with all the beauty in the underneath, I am not certain I want to live on the surface should I find it. I stopped looking a long time ago."

"The uncomfortable moments in a person's life make great stories down the road."

"I don't mean any disrespect. I truly don't. But Texas isn't nature. Texas is city and smog and humidity and heat."

"Don." "Yeah." "Why don't people believe?" "Why don't they believe what?" "In God." "I don't know. Not everyone has a Volkswagen."

"We have come one hundred miles and both the tortoise and the hare have passed us laughing."

"It is the process that is godliness, not so much the end result. A godly man will involve himself in the process of being godly. For godliness is not so much a place we are going as it is the going itself."

"I do not believe that I have a thinking problem as much as a feeling problem. What I mean is, I know the Christian answer to most questions but I do not always live accordingly. I am not pagan. But my "goodness" is the product of moral upbringing, not of a coherent biblical worldview. I tend do to and thing as I feel like doing and thinking. There is rarely an exception. I am guided by Pavlovian instincts. Church culture has a vocabulary, and I have learned it well. There is a dress code too, and my clothes are well within the acceptable parameters, I wear Dockers and plaid shirts, as is silently required of twenty-something Christians. I only vote Republican, which is also silently required."

"How does a person separate true, personal religion from a religion of conformity? Christianity is not really as white and wealthy and judgmental as we might want it to be."

"But I do all of this, not because I want to life scripturally, but because church culture has a certain rhythm. And when you have marched to this beat since infancy, it is difficult to break free from."

"Life is too complicated to use analogies to describe it."

"Too much chicken soup for the soul is not a good thing. Working men eat meat and potatoes."

"The early bird catches the worm But I have never been one for worms. I am not sure what the late bird catches, but I will feast with him today. Probably porridge."

"All this beauty makes a person realize how insignificant they are," Paul says. "How insignificant I am. You're the insignificant one" He grins real big as he realizes how his words sounded. "I didn't mean it like that," he chuckles. "No, I know what you meant, bud. I was just thinking kind of the same thing. I was looking at all this depth and it came to me how very shallow you are." "Ha, ha," Paul chortles. He takes a few steps down the trail and turns. "You know, Don, I was just looking at this little flowery cactus here and thinking how nice it looks and it made me realize how ugly you are." "Is that right," I say. "Well, I was just considering how smart these rocks look and it made me realize how dumb you are." With that I give him a little kick in the backside. "How smart these rocks are?" he heckles. "Well, I was just looking at that cloud up there, reflecting on its beauty and stuff, and it hit me how much you smell." "Is that right," I say. "The cloud made you realize that, huh?" Paul distances himself a little and keeps turning to see if I am going to kick him again. He's got this grin going like he got the last laugh. "You know, Paul, I was just looking at this pebble and it made me realize that I'm going to tackle you and throw you off the ledge." "I see. That's real deep, Don. The pebble; you got that from a pebble?"

"Worship is not just something we feel, it is something we sweat."

"If worship is sustenance, then modern worship is fast food."

"Angry people are stupid people."

"The graves all are silent. The caskets are vacant. Stalin has no more wisdom for us. Nietzsche is preserved in books, having forgotten to lift his casket lid and tell us he was right. Muhammad gives us the slip. So does Buddha. It is Christ alone who defeats the grave. Nothing is left in the tomb but echoes and cobwebs. And so we do well to listen to Him with the ears of dying men."

"Outside of God's perspective, even romance loses its significance. Not in riches or in romance do we find fulfillment, but in God."

"Living with a woman is going to be really tough. They tend to be really domesticated, you know. They fold things and clean things and know what they are going to have for dinner several hours before it's time to eat."

"You know what I want in a woman, Paul?" "What's that?" "A friend. A true friend; someone who knows me and loves me anyway. You know, like when I'm through putting my best foot forward, she's still there, still the same."

"I guess I'm looking for what any guy is looking for. I want a companion, you know. Just someone to share life with. I want her to be my biggest fan and I want to be her biggest fan, too. I want us to raise kids in a home where they know their parents are in love with each other, with them, and with God. I guess that's all I want."

"There are two types of men in this world--one is looking for a woman to make his life complete and the other is looking for a woman to join his complete life."

"This is a James Taylor moment and we are stuck with a piano player who wants to sound like Enya and a southern funk band that, somewhere along the line, fell into thinking Alabama is a sweet place to call home."

"Sometimes I think these self-righteous labors are attempts to impress myself rather than sincere strides toward God."

"It does not escape me that I am blessed to be included in this tale of a billion human conflicts and singular resolution."

"No poet, in his greatest imaginings, could conceive of anything greater than the real;"

"It gives me great confidence and pride to think that, had the Israelites been influenced by German engineering, Paul and Timothy might have journeyed in an old Volkswagen camping van."

"It occurs to me it is not so much the aim of the devil to lure me with evil as it is to preoccupy me with the meaningless."

"I need more than a bedtime story, I need more than a youth group God.I am looking for a savior. A guide. An existential answer to my questions about purpose and meaning. I want true fulfillment in my Christian faith. I am looking for joy."

"The game of life is the game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds and words return to us sooner or later, with astounding accuracy."

"Intuition is a spiritual faculty and does not explain, but simply points the way."

"If one asks for success and prepares for failure, he will get the situation he has prepared for."

"Every great work, every big accomplishment, has been brought into manifestation through holding to the vision, and often just before the big achievement, comes apparent failure and discouragement."