20 Quotes by Jefferson Bethke

"Only when we truly know rest and celebration can we know how to work and enjoy it. We work from rest, not to get rest."

"We refuse to turn off our computers, turn off our phones, log off Facebook, and just sit in silence, because in those moments we might actually have to face up to who we really are. We fear silence like it's an invisible monster, gnawing at us, ripping us open, and showing us our dissatisfaction. Silence is terrifying."

"When I was trying to earn Jesus by being good, I missed the real Jesus who wants us to love him and serve him not for what he gives but for who he is—dangerous, unpredictable, radical, and amazing."

"God is putting his world back together, and to do that he's using the very people who broke it."

"My "Christianity" was once again just the American religion of work hard, do good, feel good, and maybe God will say, "We good."

"A crooked stick can still draw a straight line, and a messed-up dude like me can still write about an awesome God."

"Image-bearers always go in or on a temple. And they can't move. They are metal, wood, stone, etc. But in Genesis the images are flesh. A divine mix of spirit, flesh, love, and humanness. And Adam and Eve are placed in the garden, which is God saying loud and clear that from the beginning he wants to flood the earth with his presence. The whole world is his temple."

"The big difference between chaos and shalom is rhythm. Chaos is unpredictable and unrhythmic. It has no set cadence. But shalom is more like a dance that depends on the rhythm in music."

"God’s voice is always calling us out of hiding—that’s how you know it’s God’s voice."

"When I think of whisper, I think of tenderness, gentleness, beauty. And that was God's voice. The hard part with whispers, though, is we have to be listening for them. They are just loud enough that only the people listening will hear and those who are distracted won't."