“It is not objective proof of God’s existence that we want, but the experience of God’s presence. That is the miracle we are really after, and that is also, I think, the miracle that we really get.”[Frederick Buechner]
“When the Holy Spirit is permitted to exercise his full sway in a redeemed heart there will likely be voluble praise first; then, when the crescendo rises beyond the ability of studied speech to express, comes song. When song breaks down under the weight of glory, then comes silence where the soul, held in deep fascination, feels itself blessed with an unutterable beatitude!”[A.W. Tozer]
“The long painful history of the church is the history of people ever and again tempted to choose power over love, control over the cross, being a leader over being led. Those who resisted this temptation to the end and thereby give us hope are the true saints… What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life.”[Henri Nouwen]
“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.” [John 3:8; NIV] “In this passage, Jesus uses the symbol of wind to speak of the mystery of God… Without this incredible mystery, the church loses her spell of intrigue… When churches grow only because of their “let’s be the friendliest place in town” mystique, it is weak growth indeed—a pitiful weak substitute for the involvement of the Spirit. When churches grow because those who attend feel spellbound by the mystery of things they cannot understand, however, the church is impelled toward glory and it grows with an otherworldly vitality. And that sort of vitality is the only kind that matters.” [Calvin Miller, “Loving God Up Close”]
“It’s easy to let the hurts and slights of yesterday, like an unruly child coloring on the walls, mar all our days. What would happen if instead we let our future loose with a roller and paint can?” [Mark Buchanan, “The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul By Restoring Sabbath”]
Sometimes the best thing to do with a tense past is to let it become past tense. A tense past that does not become past tense often invades the present with the threat of a tense future. God present with us in the here and now, however, builds confidence for His abiding presence in the future tense also.
“I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn’t resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes.
"After that I liked jazz music.
"Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way.
"I used to not like God because God didn’t resolve. But that was before any of this happened…
“…I am early in my story, but I believe I will stretch out into eternity, and in heaven I will reflect upon these early days, these days when it seemed God was down a dirt road, walking toward me. Years ago He was a swinging speck in the distance; now He is close enough I can hear His singing. Soon I will see the lines on His face.” [Donald Miller, “Blue Like Jazz”]
