“If we ask God to forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, then it might appear that we are really asking God not to forgive us at all” (For a Glory and a Covering, p. 14).
It Works Because It Trusts God
“The tidy-minded think that a given intersection on the north end of town should have only one gas station. That would be efficient and would not be wasteful. And societies that have opted for central planning get one efficient gas station, the only problem being that it doesn’t have any gas. The ‘inefficient’ system has …
Botanical Orcs
“The landscaped slopes on either side of the broad steps were covered with junipers, which Rourke had long considered to be the orcs of the plant kingdom. The automatic sprinklers on a timer were busily spritzing them, which just made them wet, botanical orcs” (Evangellyfish, p. 37).
The Way He Said to Do It
“But humility does not mean adopting an ‘aw, shucks’ posture. Real humility is doing what God says to do” (For a Glory and a Covering, p. 13).
Pre Regulated
“With five thousand wild bronco entrepreneurs and only six bureaucrats trying to put a bit and bridle on them, it takes a while. And when it does happen, it is usually because some of the more successful entrepreneurs want to keep others from doing the same thing because that might bring them the nuisance of …
On Stilts and Steroids
“Chad’s great gift was that of being able to contain and almost completely suppress that internal sense of weightlessness and panic that he kept in an isolated chamber somewhere in the nether regions of his gut. This time the panic was a category hitherto unknown to him . . . this was panic on stilts …
Imitation of the Wise is True Independence
“In Scrpiture, learning is profoundly incarnational. But we have been taught (in countless ways) that true knowledge is abstract and disembodied. When people begin to self-consciously imitate their parents and elders, it is not long before the charges of ‘mind-control’ and ‘cult’ begin to fly. Part of the godly fruit of incarnational imitation is like-mindedness, …
And Now for a Little Perspective
“In virtually every town in our nation, there are a few people who are one hundred years old. At the time of this writing, they were born in 1909. When one of those individuals was a newborn, he or she could have been placed on the lap of another person, also one hundred years old. …
Waiting Patiently
“The remaining four elders were confident of their pastor’s innocence for all the normal reasons, and they looked at him expectantly, waiting for the next reassuring evangelical cliche, like so many show poodles waiting for their treat” (Evangellyfish, p. 31).
Against the Caricature
“Anyone who comes away from a careful reading of the apostle Paul’s teaching on marriage with the idea that the husband is ‘the boss’ and the wife is ‘the slave’ is someone not to be trusted with any text” (For a Glory and a Covering, p. 8).