Life is slippery. We all need a loving hand to hold onto.

Three weeks ago I was a law abidin citizen. Workin a nine to five job. Eight to four, anyways. Things happen to you they happen. They dont ask first. They dont require your permission.

If there's one thing I'd say to anyone out there, is that if you're in this game, it's a rollercoaster. There's a lot of ups and downs.

God asks no man whether he will accept life. That is not the choice. You must take it. The only question is how.

I believe that life is a journey, often difficult and sometimes incredibly cruel, but we are well equipped for it only we tap into our talents and gifts and allow them to blossom.

Life imposes things on you that you can't control, but you still have the choice of how you're going to live through this.

Life is a checkerboard, and the player opposite you is TIME. If you hesitate before moving, or neglect to move promptly, your men will be wiped off the board by TIME. You are playing against a partner who will not tolerate INDECISION!

You will have many ups and downs in life, but what is most important is that you remain "true to yourself." Then, as Shakespeare said, "thou can'st not then be false to any man.

And it is here that we are, in some pain and with no guarantees, working out our destiny.

We're not married in a carefree garden of Eden; we're married in the midst of many responsibilities that compete for our energy.

I am convinced that if we lose kids to the culture of drugs and materialism, of violence and war, it's because we don't dare them, not because we don't entertain them. It's because we make the gospel too easy, not because we make it too difficult. Kids want to do something heroic with their lives, which is why they play video games and join the army. But what are they to do with a church that teaches them to tiptoe through life so they can arrive safely at death?

We work it out, or live it out.