A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.

The Torah itself sets obedience in the context of trust.

In the middle of the road of my life, I awoke in a dark wood, where the true way was wholly lost.

I've been part of some extraordinary experiences with God. I've had global adventures with him. But I don't live there. Getting there, just like getting to love or anything else that's wonderful in this life, is in the dailies.

You can find that life—if you are willing to embark on a great adventure.

Remember—the battle right now is for the narrative; who gets to frame the story for you? Either it will be God, or someone else. If you are "alarmed," something has drawn your attention away from the story of God. Let your fears, anxieties, anger, or rage alert you that you've been taken hostage; stop and get your bearings.

The reason we love The Chronicles of Narnia or Star Wars or The Matrix or The Lord of the Rings is that they are telling us something about our lives that we never, ever get on the evening news. Or from most pulpits. This is our most desperate hour. Without this burning in our hearts, we lose the meaning of our days.

Story is how we figure things out, bring order and meaning to the events around us. The story we hold at any given time shapes our perceptions, hopes, and expectations; it gives us a place to stand.

Just because we cannot see clearly te end of the road, that is no reason for not setting out on the essential journey.

Nothing ever becomes real till experienced — even a proverb is no proverb until your life has illustrated it

A Man's life of any worth is a continual allegory, and very few eyes can see the Mystery of his life—a life like the scriptures, figurative—which such people can no more make out than they can the Hebrew Bible. Lord Byron cuts a figure but he is not figurative—Shakspeare led a life of Allegory: his works are the comments on it

Doing fine. Watching shadows on the wall.