He said that the blood was not his own, but that of a comrade a few feet away who had been blown apart by an enemy grenade. And after having left the rice paddies of Vietnam, he eventually took up residence in the pew of a small mid-western church. For he said that he had been covered by the blood of one friend in combat and by blood of another on a cross in another sort of combat. And such was his love for both that he committed to forget neither.

Real relationships are the product of time spent, which is why so many of us have so few of them.

Don’t think for a moment that there’s nothing to be learned from the people who’ve failed us. For some of the greatest lessons that we’ve been granted are from those who showed us how ‘not’ to do something. And we’d be wise to remember that some of those people are us.

Throughout our lifetime many people come ‘to’ us. But if they haven’t come ‘for’ us the coming doesn’t matter. And I would have us carefully consider that Christmas is God perfectly doing both.

Vulnerability creates unimaginable space to build each other up, as much as it creates ample room to tear each other down.

Maybe consequences are dear friends in stealthy disguise.

What rubs off on me is hard to rub off. So, I’d better figure out what I rubbing up against.