Philip

“The first task of seeking guidance then is to touch your own struggles, doubts, and insecurities—in short, to affirm your life as a quest.8 Your life, my life, is given graciously by God. Our lives are not problems to be solved but journeys to be taken with Jesus as our friend and finest guide.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith

“Prayer’s function is to set God at the center of your attention, and forget yourself and the impression you are making on others.”
― Rosalind Rinker, Prayer: How to Have a Conversation with God

“To live up to their name, local churches must be continually moving out, extending themselves into the world, being the missional, witnessing community we were called into being to be: the manifestation of God’s going into the world, crossing boundaries, proclaiming, teaching, healing, loving, serving and extending the reign of God. In short, churches need to keep adventuring or they will die.”
― Tod Bolsinger, Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory

“This is why praying demands poverty, that is, the readiness to live a life in which you have nothing to lose so that you can always begin afresh. Whenever you willingly choose this poverty you make yourself vulnerable, but you also become free to see the world and to let the world show itself in its true form. You have no need to defend yourself. You can proclaim loudly what you know through your intimate contact with God, who is the source of all life.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, With Open Hands