Quotes on the way of Jesus

I love quotes. Short, quick reads with lots of truth. Things you can dwell on while driving the car or mowing the yard. Here are a few of my favorites about following Jesus.

"Ruthless trust comes down to this: faith in the person of Jesus and hope in his promise in spite of all disconcerting appearances."
-Brennan Manning in Ruthless Trust

The reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself.
-Rita Maye Brown

This adventure is not about me but Jesus, and apart from Him and the grace of the Spirit and Abba’s love in this process I would be lost and destroyed, or dead already. So let’s be people who rock the world, who fight for the unity of the heart, who embrace powerlessness and a love that is so wondrously painful that it threatens daily to pull us out of this age and into the presence of the One we so desperately love.
-Paul Young, Author of The Shack

We are called to be fruitful - not successful, not productive, not accomplished.Success comes from strength, stress, and human effort.Fruitfulness comes from vulnerability and the admission of our own weakness.”
-Henri J.M. Nouwen


“I believe that the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil but rather have us wasting time. This is why the devil tries so hard to get Christians to be religious. If he can sink a man’s mind into a habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging God.”
-Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz

“When religion replaces the actual experience of the living Jesus, when we lose the authority of personal knowing and rely on the authority of books, institutions, and leaders, when we let religion interpose between us and the primary experience of Jesus as the Christ, we lose the very reality that religion itself describes as ultimate.”
-Brennan Manning in The Wisdom of Tenderness

Jesus was not killed by atheism and anarchy. He was brought down by law and order allied with religion, which is always a deadly mix.
-Barbara Brown Taylor in A Deadly Mix

“Nothing makes people n the church more angry than grace. It’s ironic: we stumble into a party we weren’t invited to and find the uninvited standing at the door making sure no other uninviteds get in. Then a strange phenomenon occurs: as soon as we are included in the party because of Jesus’ irresponsible love, we decide to make grace 'more responsible' by becoming self-appointed Kingdom Monitors, guarding the kingdom of God, keeping the riffraff out (which as I understand it, are who the kingdom of God is supposed to include.)"
-Michael Yaconelli in Messy Spirituality

"Why, then, is there so much unfreedom in religious circles today? The sad truth is that many Christians fear the responsibility of being free. It's often easier to let others make the decisions or to rely exclusively on the letter of the law. Some men and women want to be slaves."
-Brennan Manning in The Wisdom of Tenderness

What we need very badly these days is a company of Christians who are prepared to trust God as completely now as they know they must do at the last day. For each of us the time is surely coming when we shall have nothing but God."
A.W Tozer

May all your expectations be frustrated. May all your plans be thwarted. May all of your desires be withered into nothingness. That you may experience the powerlessness and poverty of a child and sing and dance in the love of God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit."
-A blessing prayed over Henri Nouwen by a friend

Anyone God uses significantly is always deeply wounded... We are, each and every one of us, insignificant people who God has called and graced to use in a significant way... On the last day, Jesus will look us over not for medals, diplomas, or honors, but for scars."
-Brennan Manning in Ruthless Trust

"There has been persecution of people who will live this costly life throughout the history of organized religion. We need to see that the real enemy of the cross-life comes from the established religion of the day. That seems to be the clear teaching of Jesus—and history has born him out."
-David Boan and John Yates, brothers from Australia in an unpublished manuscript

"Brothers and sisters, break free from whatever ruts you have settled into! Whoever does not want to be set free - well, suit yourself, but don’t say you are living in Christ’s spirit. You can continue in the old ways and be a part of Christianity, but not of God’s kingdom. You can live in Christianity but not in Christ; the gulf between the two is great."
-Christoph Blumhardt in Break Free

Schools in for Cooper

This is an article from the USA Today. I thought it was, well...interesting. What are your thoughts?


Alice Cooper, the gender-bending shock-rock legend of American music, opening a center where kids can learn to play guitar, shoot hoops and find Jesus?
The 58-year-old musician says he is teaming up with Grand Canyon University in Phoenix to establish a $3 million youth haven featuring a "school of rock," a concert hall and sporting attractions.
"It's a sanctuary where they don't get shot, they don't get stabbed, they don't have to worry about somebody trying to sell them drugs," says Cooper, who plans to announce the project Tuesday.
He concedes that some parents might view him as unlikely, if not objectionable, in the role of a philanthropist bringing morality and religion to America's young people.
"It's a great juxtaposition," he says. "Trust me, I walk that tightrope every day. Part of the fun is the edge of it."
Alice Cooper's band was renowned for debauchery. Its revolutionary rock theater — snakes, guillotines, mock executions and all sorts of ghoulishness — was condemned by the likes of Tipper Gore and Ann Landers.
But Cooper says those who understand his shtick recognize that the show has always been a blend of farce and satire. They also know that he became a born-again Christian 16 years ago when he quit drinking.
Since 1995, Cooper has operated the Solid Rock Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides money to children's causes and college scholarships to Christian students.
Cooper insists that his stage persona is a polar opposite to his personal life: He has been married 30 years "without cheating" on his wife, and they have raised three children.
The son of a minister and grandson of an evangelist, Cooper says America "needs a good hypodermic needle shot of morality."
That will be one goal for his 20,000-square-foot recreational hall, to be known as The Rock, on the urban campus of Grand Canyon University. It will be open to children 12 to 18 at no charge; the prime target is at-risk teens, whose parents may be in jail or on drugs, and whose brothers are thugs.
"Even kids who grow up in gangs have a creative place in their body," Cooper says. "They have a choice between a 9mm and a nine-iron."
Cooper, who still tours with his band five months each year, says alcohol and tobacco will be banned at The Rock. There won't be a chapel, but counselors will proselytize by example and offer religious guidance to kids who want to learn about the faith.
"We are overtly Christian," he says, "but we're not going to beat you over the head with a Bible."
The project, still in design stages and not fully financed, is scheduled to break ground next year. An artist's rendering shows a concert hall, recording studios, game rooms, a basketball court and a rock-climbing wall.
Cooper says he's seeking corporate sponsors to provide everything from guitars to construction materials. In the meantime, his foundation will raise money with an annual golf tournament and a Christmas music show.
Grand Canyon University will provide the land, security and some of the financing, says Brent Richardson, CEO of the non-denominational Christian school. Richardson concedes that some of the university's patrons and its 10,000 students may be leery of the shock-rock image.
But he says Cooper has an honorary degree from the university and has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships through his Solid Rock Foundation.
"Look at his actions," Richardson says. "I think it's a great thing, and I don't worry about it at all."
Even in the early years, Cooper says, his shows featured no foul language, nudity or satanic glorification. In fact, he says, more than 30 of his songs assail devil worship.
On the other hand, there were songs about necrophilia, sadomasochism and hedonism; his theme was "Nothing in moderation."
Born Vincent Furnier, Cooper started out with a garage band in Phoenix in the late 1960s and recognized that he needed a gimmick to succeed — and that other groups were not exploiting the showmanship potential of the stage.
So he invented a mascara-slathered, evil, leering stage persona, mimicking the hyperbolic bad guys of professional wrestling.
"I said, 'Where's the villain?' " Cooper says. "I created Alice to be rock's Moriarity. Nobody in the band was gay. But we slapped on this makeup and made this gigantic music and I did become rock's villain.
"All of the stuff that goes on with Alice Cooper — if you're not laughing, there's something wrong."
Cooper says he and his family will be regulars at The Rock, working with children and helping to produce shows.
He says no decision has been made on an emblem for the school, but he would prefer that it not have anything to do with Alice Cooper. Then, with a mischievous grin, he suggests, "How about a cross through my heart?"