“I’ve searched and I’ve searched to find a better life
A brand new car and a brand new suit
I even got me a little wife
But wherever I have gone
I was sure to find myself there
You can run all your life
but not go anywhere” (>>)

“The kingdom of [God] cannot be overcome, even by death. In the end everything will be all right, nothing can harm you permanently; no loss is lasting, no defeat more than transitory, no dissapointment is conclusive. Suffering, failure, loneliness, sorrow, discouragement, and death will be part of your journey, but the kingdom of God will conquer all these horrors. No evil can resist grace forever.” (>>)

the most beautiful place:
under the moon, with no cover

“The circus, and I am talking about life now, really sucks. It feels like we all have these little acts, these stupid things we do that we all hang our hats on. The Fall has made monkeys of us, for crying out loud. Some of us are athletes and others of us are physicists, and some of us are good-looking and some of us are rich, and we are all running around, in a way, trying to get a bunch of people to clap for us, trying to get a bunch of people to say we are normal, we are healthy, we are good.” (>>)

“Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the son. And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them. So I congratulated the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still living. But better off than both of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil activity that is done under the sun.” (>>)

“The [Christian entertainment business] is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.” (>>)

“i’d rather live in the tension than have false comfort…” (>>)

“Even as he spoke, a deep sadness began to form in the bottom of Solomon’s soul. It was like the sadness a man feels when he realizes that the woman of his dreams was his until he let her go. It was like the sadness of discovering that a hasty decision has destroyed all hope for a wondrous joy that might have been but will never be. It was a regretful, coward-like sadness.” (>>)

” ‘Hey, Jones,’ Holly says. ‘This thing about what the company does, don’t let it get to you. I was the same when I first started working here. But you get used to it. The thing is, there’s plenty about Zephyr that makes no sense. Sydney got promoted to manager. One of the best parking spaces is always empty, I mean always, but we’re not allowed to use it. Last month we had to sit through a presentation on eliminating redundancy, and it was a bunch of PowerPoint slides, plus a guy reading out what was on the slides, and then he gave us all hard copies. I don’t understand these things. I don’t really understand anything about this company. It’s just how things are. Like the story, you know, with the monkeys?’

” ‘Chimps,’ Freedy says.

“Holly folds her hands on her desk. ‘These chimps, they’re in a cage, and the scientists poke in a banana on a stick. The chimps try and grab it, but as soon as they do, the scientists electrify the floor, so all the chimps get a shock. This goes on until the chimps learn that touching a banana equals electric shock. Right? Then the scientists take one chimp out and put in a new one. This chimp, when he goes to grab the banana, he gets beaten up by all the others, because they don’t want to get shocked. You see?’

” ‘That’s a terrible story,’ Jones says.

” ‘The scientists keep switching out chimps, one at a time, until none of the originals are left. Then they add one more. The new chimp, he goes for the banana and the others jump him, same as before. But, see, none of them was ever shocked. They don’t know why they’re doing it. They just know that’s the way they do things.

” ‘So I’m the new chimp.’

” ‘You’re the new chimp. Don’t try to understand the company. Just go with it.’ ” (>>)

“The scoop? Nothing but media hype. Folks say, ‘oooh, it shakes Christianity to its core,’ but I’ve got news. Gnosticism isn’t new. It does not shed any light on the origins of Christianity. And the only people saying that are sexy historians who make a living writing sexy books that tell you everything you always wanted to be true. Hm, which is actually how lots of people deal with religion anyway. Go figure.” (>>)

“The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd. But beyond this, my son, be warned; the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body.” (>>)