Luke

“Jesus began his work with those who were supposed to be invisible at the party ... Jesus starts in hidden places with forgettable people, intentionally steering away from crowd-pleasers.”
― John Starke, The Secret Place of Thunder: Trading Our Need to Be Noticed for a Hidden Life with Christ

“Babylon makes two kinds of promises - maximum control and maximum freedom. With maximum control, I am in complete control of my destiny. I form my identity and justify my existence, needing noone else to define or shape my life. I belong to myself.

Maximum freedom is a newer development. In previous societies, people identified themselves as citizens and neighbours. But now, we are primarily consumers and spectators.”
― John Starke, The Secret Place of Thunder: Trading Our Need to Be Noticed for a Hidden Life with Christ

“Maturity is the subtle, long term plan for the way the kingdom of God is at work in us and through us and our participation in it. It's the slow path of growing out of the performative life into a life of imitating Christ.”
― John Starke, The Secret Place of Thunder: Trading Our Need to Be Noticed for a Hidden Life with Christ

“But we don't get a harvest of joy without the sowing of tears. If we merely try to "keep it light", escaping or numbing our pain, or just gritting our teeth and bearing it, we will miss the harvest. Our tears are seeds ... God won't simple replace our tears with joy. Our tears, themselves, become a path to joy.”
― John Starke, The Secret Place of Thunder: Trading Our Need to Be Noticed for a Hidden Life with Christ