Trifles make the sum of human things, and half our misery from our foibles springs.

A sense of our inadequacies and failings, a recognition that we could be better people than we usually are, is one of the forces for moral growth and improvement in our society. An appropriate sense of guilt makes people try to be better. But an excessive sense of guilt, a tendency to blame ourselves for things which are clearly not our fault, robs us of our self-esteem and perhaps of our capacity to grow and to act.

Good people will do good things, lots of them, because they are good people. They will do bad things because they are human.

I'm not perfect, ... But i'm enough.

It's hard to think seriously about grace until you understand that you've failed morally and will someday stand accountable before a holy God.

But C. S. Lewis made the point that we hate sin but love the sinner all the time — in our own lives. In other words, when we're judging ourselves, we always love the sinner despite our sin. We accept ourselves, even though we might not always like our behavior.

My sin in the past: forgiven. My current struggles: covered. My future failures: paid in full all by the marvelous, infinite, matchless grace found in the atoning work of the cross of Jesus Christ.

We must act, knowing that our work will be imperfect.

We need to incorporate that age-old concept of redemption into the work that we do in the criminal justice system in California.

God doesn't work through us because we're flawless; rather, He works through us in spite of our imperfections.

Only when you accept the bad news of the gospel does the good news make any sense. The grace, restoration, reconciliation, forgiveness, mercy, patience, power, healing, and hope of the gospel are for sinners. They are only meaningful to you if you admit that you have the disease and realize that it is terminal.

Sin's self-centeredness cuts us off from God and others