Mike Otto

“Sex works a lot like fire. When removed from its protective boundaries, it burns us and leaves scars. When brought and kept inside those covenanted boundaries, a sweet foretaste of the ultimate love feast between Christ and his Bride, the Church, is given.”
― Rachel Joy Welcher, Talking Back to Purity Culture: Rediscovering Faithful Christian Sexuality

“To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light and the dark. In admitting my “shadow side” I learn who I am and what God’s grace means. In a futile attempt to erase our past, we deprive the community of our healing gift. If we conceal our wounds out of fear and shame, our inner darkness can neither be illuminated nor become a light for others.”
― Natalie Runion, Raised to Stay: Persevering in Ministry When You Have a Million Reasons to Walk Away

“When the relationship goes sour, when the feelings of futility come flooding in, when it feels like life is passing us by, when it seems that our one shot at significance has slipped through our fingers, when we can’t sort out our emotions, when the longtime friend lets us down, when a family member betrays us, when we feel deeply misunderstood, when we are laughed at by the impressive—in short, when the fallenness of the world closes in on us and makes us want to throw in the towel—there, right there, we have a Friend who knows exactly what such testing feels like, and sits close to us, embraces”
― Dane C. Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers

“But visualization is one thing. Being brutally honest means expecting bad shots. Because the reality is you will hit a lot of bad shots. The secret is to move on from those bad shots, and the way to do that is to be ready for them.”
― Joe Posnanski, The Secret of Golf: The Story of Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus