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The Lust, the flesh, the eyes, and the pride of life drain the life right out of me. — 77s (“The Lust, the Flesh, the Eyes and the Pride of Life”) If you have any interest in vintage alternative Christian music (Okay, I’ll admit that it’s an almost infinitesimal subculture), the quote at the top [...]

This drama of human history is indeed partly our construct, but it stands under a sovereignty much greater than ours. — Reinhold Niebuhr (Justice and Mercy) Do you remember the scene in The Lord of the Rings when Gandalf encountered the Balrog in the mines of Moria (on the swiftly crumbling bridge of Khazad-Dûm)? In that [...]

For all her brutality, Tyre had represented stability. —Daniel I Block (Ezekiel vol. 2) One of the worst injustices in life is the breakdown of relationships into violence. I could recite the standard stereotype: drunken husband / fear-ridden wife—but this tragedy plays out in many different ways. The result is often predictable, though: the person who has [...]

Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little.| I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. — Paul (Philippians 4:11-12, [...]