And so we beat on, books against the critics, borne back ceaslessly into rewrites.

The disappointment, brokenness, suffering, and pain that characterize life in this present world is held in dynamic tension with the promise of future glory that is yet to come. In that Advent tension, the church lives its life.

In the final analysis, the questions of why bad things happen to good people transmutes itself into some very different questions, no longer asking why something happened, but asking how we will respond, what we intend to do now that it happened.

Any of us can be happy and have a good attitude when everything is going our way. But I believe it's the real test of your character and of your faith to say, 'Things are not going our way, but I'm still being good to people; I'm still attending church; I still have a good attitude.'

I have given up the idea that there is an opposition-free church out there. But I have gained something else - an appreciation for the gift of opposition. When it comes, I learn something about my motives. When it comes, I get to test my courage.

Adversity is another way to measure the greatness of individuals. I never had a crisis that didn't make me stronger.

Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it

those who possess faith should take care to set up certain criteria so that one might distinguish the paradox from a temptation (Anfechtung).

And I take with joy whatever now besets me, pain or fear, and with a strong will I sever all the ties which bind me here.

My Father gave In charge to me This child of earth E'en from its birth, To serve and save, Alleluia, And saved is he. This child of clay To me was given, To rear and train By sorrow and pain In the narrow way, Alleluia, From earth to heaven.

In light of heaven, the worst suffering on earth will be seen to be no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel.

When the shadow of death blots out my joy And erases the face of the sun Give me strength to endure, hope to believe That living and dying are one.