Courage is fear that has said its prayers.

It really IS easier to experience spiritual connection when your life is in the process of coming apart.

The truth is that your spirits don't rise until you get way down.

I've gotten endless signs of the greatness of God's love and hilarious care, but I always end up needing a newer sign, maybe one that is cuter and more spangly.

Then it came to me: I was asking the wrong question. The right one is: Where is God in gang warfare? And the answer is, The same place God is in Darfur, and in our alcoholism, and when children are bullied: being crucified.

I do believe that God is with us even when we're at our craziest and that this goodness guides, provides, and protects.

You lose the known package of your nice organized self almost instantly here. Overeating is one way back, the way it is at funerals at home.

How are we going to get through this craziness?" I asked. There was silence for a moment. "Left foot, right foot, left foot, breathe," he said.

Living on earth has always been a dangerous way to spend your time.

You have to be grateful whenever you get to someplace safe and okay, even if it turns out it wasn't quite where you were heading. The light you see when people are in the tunnel of deep trouble is domestic flashes of recognition and kitchen comforts, not Blake's radiance, which would be my preference. The sky had shifted

God isn't there to take away our suffering or our pain but to fill it with his or her presence

This is a hard planet, and we're a vulnerable species. And all I can do is pray: Help. When