Reflect, Resonate, Reevaluate, Respond

One of the afflictions of pastoral work has been to listen, with a straight face, to all the reasons people give for not going to church.
~ Peterson, Eugene H., A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

Psalm 122

Only the person who is completely safe can understand that judgment is good news.
~ Fleming Rutledge, 1937- , Why Did Jesus Choose The Cross?, Episcopal Priest

Only our concept of time makes it possible for us to speak of the Day of Judgment by that name; in reality it is a constant court in perpetual session.
~ Franz Kafka, 1883-1924, Writer

Christians are not mere wayfarers en route to the next life, but rather pioneers of God’s kingdom in advance, a sign of what will follow. By living out lives of grace in a spoiled environment, we point forward to a time of restoration.
~ Philip Yancey, Vanishing Grace Study Guide, Zondervan

The kingdom is not an exclusive, well-trimmed suburb with snobbish rules about who can live there. No, it is for a far larger, homelier, less self-conscious caste of people who understand they are sinners because they have experienced the yaw and pitch of moral struggle.
~ Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel

We structure our churches and maintain them so as to shield us from God and to protect us from genuine religious experience… The adult members of churches today rarely raise serious religious questions for fear of revealing their doubts or being thought of as strange. There is an implicit conspiracy of silence on religious matters in the churches. This conspiracy covers up the fact that the churches do not change lives or influence conduct to any appreciable degree.
~ Clyde Reid, 1967- , Pastoral Counselor, writer, The God Evaders

Knowledge, not improved and well employed, will only increase our condemnation at the last day.
~ J. C. Ryle, 1816-1900, Anglican Bishop

Reflect, Resonate, Reevaluate, Respond

We are apt to believe in Providence so long as we have our own way; but if things go awry, then we think, if there is a God, he is [away] in heaven, and not on earth.
~ Henry Ward Beecher, 1813-1887, Preacher, Social Reformer

The promise of the psalm—and both Hebrews and Christians have always read it this way—is not that we shall never stub our toes but that no injury, no illness, no accident, no distress will have evil power over us, that is, will be able to separate us from God’s purposes in us.
~ Eugene Peterson, 1932-2018, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

~~~~~~~~~ Psalm 121 ~~~~~~~~~

There are no ‘ifs’ in God’s world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety.
~ Corrie Ten Boom, 1892-1983, Writer/Speaker

Every disability conceals a vocation, if only we can find it, which will turn the necessity to glorious gain.
~ C.S. Lewis, 1898-1963, Anglican Lay Theologian

To deviate from the truth for the sake of some prospect of hope of our own can never be wise, however slight that deviation may be. It is not our judgement of the situation which can show us what is wise, but only the truth of the Word of God. Here alone lies the promise of God’s faithfulness and help. It will always be true that the wisest course for the disciple is always to abide solely by the Word of God in all simplicity.
~ Dietrick Bonhoeffer, 1906-1945, German Theologian

Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering. The love of God is of a different nature altogether. It does not hate tragedy. It never denies reality. It stands in the very teeth of suffering. The love of God did not protect His own Son. The cross was the proof of His love – He will not necessarily protect us – not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process.
~ Elisabeth Elliot, 1926-2015, Missionary, Author, Speaker