Where did you wash? the boy thought. The village water supply was two streets down the road. I must have water here for him, the boy thought, and soap and a good towel. Why am I so thoughtless? I must get him another shirt and a jacket for the winter and some sort of shoes and another blanket.

For what are we born if not to aid one another? And to listen and say nothing is a cold enough aid.

You're feeling it now, fish, he said. And so, God knows, am I.

I'm glad I remembered to make it an order, he thought. That helps him out. That takes some of the curse off. I hope it does, anyway.

We're no kin, Thomas Hudson said. We just used to live in the same town and make some of the same mistakes.

By your hand the people shall live.

There is a thin thread that weaves from only you to hundreds of thousands of lives

When people are convinced you want something FOR them rather than something FROM them, they are less likely to be offended when you challenge them.

The moment our love or concern for country takes precedence over our love for the people in our country, we are off mission. When saving America diverts energy, focus, and reputation away from saving Americans, we no longer qualify as the ekklesia of Jesus. We're merely political tools. A manipulated voting demographic. A photo op. Again, we lose our elevated position as the conscience of the nation. We give up the moral and ethical high ground.

Kindness is love's response to weakness.

When the point person in an organization strives for balance, he potentially robs other leaders of an opportunity to perform at the top of their game.

Whenever a leader tries to build job security by making himself indispensable to the organization, he in fact does the organization a disservice. Job security is too often based on someone's insecurity.