Favorite Quotes

“Imagine what would happen if we had as much courage for peace as we have had for war? What if we had as many monuments and holidays designated for the heroes of peace as we have for the heroes of war? What if we channeled all our incredibly gifted minds to devise ways to de-escalate violence rather than crafting new drones and bombs and guns? What if we were as willing to die for the cross as we have been willing to die for the sword?...

Triggers are not to be avoided. Triggers are instead designed to highlight those places in our hearts where we still are in need of growth, and where we still need God to walk with us towards healing. Don’t avoid triggers. Study them. Learn from them. Walk, grow, and heal through them. ~ Adapted from Debra Fileta

I don’t want to be a part of an “us” that makes a “them” of the world’s most vulnerable people. ~ John Green in Why Are Poor Countries Poor?

“You don’t need to catch up. You just need to show up.” ~ Ryder Carroll, creator of the Bullet Journal

“The most important step a man can take is not the first one, is it? It’s the next one. Always the next step.” ~ Brandon Sanderson in Oathbringer

“Most of what passes for legitimate entertainment is inferior or foolish and only caters to or exploits people’s weaknesses. Avoid being one of the mob who indulges in such pastimes. Your life is too short and you have important things to do. Be discriminating about what images and ideas you permit into your mind. If you yourself don’t choose what thoughts and images you expose yourself to, someone else will, and their motives may not be the highest....

Frodo: I wish none of this had happened. Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world Frodo, besides the will of evil… And that is an encouraging thought.

It’s been a few years since I watched this clip of former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya sharing his concerns about attention extraction services and the dopamine industrial complex. This video was influencial in my descision to stop using those platforms in 2020. I just rewatched this video a few minutes ago, and Palihapitiya’s thoughts are just as potent and applicable today as they were when he first shared them. Maybe even more....

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry “Once you get fancy, fancy gets broken.” ~ Morgan Spurlock “Leadership is simple. But simple doesn’t mean easy.” ~ (paraphrased) Jocko Willink

“Peacemaking doesn’t mean passivity. İt is the act of interrupting injustice without mirroring injustice, the act of disarming evil without destroying the evildoer, the act of finding a third way that is neither fight nor flight but the careful, arduous pursuit of reconciliation and justice. İt is about a revolution of love that is big enough to set both the oppressed and the oppressors free.” ~ Common Prayer: A Liturgy For Ordinary Radicals