Quotes from Charles Martin

That was the night I learned the value of an old hymn. How something so old and "out-of-date" could say words my heart needed to hear and didn't know how to say.

The river never changes. it may alter it's path a bit, but it never changes. It's us who change. We come back here and we're are different. Not it. Form can't be extracted from the essence like some broth reduction. This river's taught me a good bit. Probably why I don't leave here. It winds, weaves, snakes around. Rarely goes the same twice. But, in the end, it always ends up in the same place and the gift is never the same. ...it's the journey that matters.

In my experience, it's those words on the tip of the tongue that we most need to hear. They are the key. The thing that's missing. But you can't pull them out. They have to be offered. Freely. And they won't be offered until the owner trusts you with them. And to do that means they've got to break through a world of hurt and pain just to get them out of their mouth. I caught my reflection in the mirror.

What about all that 'turn the other cheek' stuff?" Dad's eyes narrowed. "When someone's trying to control you, you come out swinging. And keep swinging. Bible never said be a doormat.

It's so dry the trees are bribing the dogs.

If someone is bent on hurting herself, she'll find a way to do it. She was a grown woman; sooner or later, she was responsible for herself.

Indifference is the curse of this age. Indifference is evil, and it couldn't be farther from the heart of God. Afterword - On Digging a Well p. 359

Whether or not I wake up . . . I'll have a new heart.

We stood in silence, and yet I heard a familiar voice saying, Listen here, child, that's God's little girl, baggage and all, so don't go judging the cover. He doesn't care what she looks like. He'll take her and us any way he can get us. Just like the woman at the well. Best you switch lenses and start seeing her that way too.

It is a flower that sprouts and grows when others pour water upon it. I think sometimes that I spent so much time worrying about how to protect and strengthen the flower—even going so far as to graft in a new stem and root system—that I forgot to simply water it.

The stone had been rolled away... That fact alone demands a response.

This is a battlefield. Has been since Cain killed Abel. And don't let it get complicated. Gray it ain't. It's black and white. Good versus evil. You might as well choose sides right now." He nodded back over his shoulder. "Thanks to you…" He lifted my hand and stared at the center knuckle. The cut had spread open. "… those boys in there are reconsidering their choice.