I had envisioned that this would be a short book, about half of what it has become. Once I opened up the Scriptures, however, it was like the glaciers melted and the dams overflowed, and I had to ride the rivers way downstream. I hope you enjoy and learn from the ride.

We cannot receive, however, unless we set aside time for God to speak—and then let him set the agenda for our discussion. I've found that my agenda is frequently different from God's. He must be the initiator in my spiritual walk. He knows what I need to hear. When I'm consumed with my temporal problems, I miss the blessing of being out of doors.

Approached in the right way, marriage can cause us to reevaluate our dependency on other humans for our spiritual nourishment, and direct us to nurture our relationship with God instead. No human being can love us the way we long to be loved; it is just not possible for another human to reach and alleviate the spiritual ache that God has placed in all of us.

Rejecting the notion that God creates one person just for us doesn't discount the reality that God can lead us toward someone and help us make a wise choice when we seek Him in prayer.

The truth is, we want to be known; we truly do. But we're afraid. If you see the real me, will you run away? Am I even worth being known? Will the real me bore you? Scare you? Repulse you? And so we hide.

We are told to seek first the kingdom of God, not seek first marriage.

Decisiveness is a characteristic of high-performing men and women. Almost any decision is better than no decision at all.

The more you seek security, the less of it you have. But the more you seek opportunity, the more likely it is that you will achieve the security that you desire.

Sundance is weird. The movies are weird - you actually have to think about them when you watch them.

Why are we worried!' Rolf said suddenly. 'This is God's work! He'll make a way for us.' And as if to prove his conviction, he started to sing.

The real purpose of this training," Mr. Dinnen told me, "is to teach our students that they can trust God to do what He has said He would do. We don't go from here into the traditional missionary fields, but into new territory. Our graduates are on their own. They cannot be effective if they are afraid or if they doubt that God really means what He says in His Word. So here we teach not so much ideas as trusting.

God told us to go. He didn't promise that we would come back." Butros