“Words are not abstract entities with an ethereal life of their own in Dictionary Heaven . . . The glory of words is therefore revealed when they are enfleshed and particularized” (For a Glory and a Covering, p. 122).
Like Coriander Seed
“That kind of anger is like manna. Even if it is good, it goes bad overnight if you try to keep it” (Evangellyfish, p. 224).
Illegal in Some States
“Husbands are prohibited from bluster, bossing about, selfish grasping, and all the rest of it, but the Bible nevertheless requires wives to obey their husbands. This obedience is to be cheerful, complete, reverent, all the way down, and across the board. Remember that in our passage St. Paul tells wives to be subject to their …
Hidden Likenesses
“The first thing she did was hand him the check, like Jacob driving his flocks toward Esau, not that either of them was thinking about this exactly” (Evangellyfish, p. 221).
Which Is Not a Technique
“The Christian pattern of self-improvement is to die and rise” (For a Glory and a Covering, p. 117).
That Doesn’t Work
“‘What bothers me is that I will have to talk to him. Sometimes I think I have forgiven him, and other times the thought of talking to him without fighting just creeps me out. I don’t know how to talk to that man without being angry. I haven’t done it for years.’ John sat there …
Imitating the Inimitable
“This kind of love is efficacious. Obviously, husbands cannot reenact the substitutionary atonement for the sins of the world . . . But they are commanded to imitate it — and to imitate it with an eye on the results. In this, as with everything else, the results are God’s” (For a Glory and a …
Tumbling Repentance
“When the idea of repenting had first begun occurring to her, she had thought it would involve a few outstanding big-ticket items . . . But when it finally happened to her, the whole thing was far more illuminating than she had thought it would be and went all the way back to her girlhood. …
The Basic Gift
“True husbandly love is rendered when a man gives himself to the uttermost, and then as a result of that self-gift, he naturally gives other things (material provision) as well. A man cannot bestow himself and then not bestow provision, protection, and so on, but a man can bestow provision and not bestow himself” (For …
Thruppa-da-da
“But occasionally a phrase from the prayer book would create a little spiritual thruppa-da-da, much like what happens when you forget to put the lawn mower in the garage for the winter, and try to get it started in the spring. Nothing much there, but occasionally there might be a noise that might indicate that …