“Anton's bowels tightened in fear and he prayed to the Elders he would be able to find the courage to explain to Marcus how his two most senior warriors had been ambushed by an uncouth horde of half-breed mongrels.”

“Richard felt about as conspicuous as a foreskin at a Jewish nudist camp.”

“This rain doesn’t cleanse my skin, nor soothe my battered and broken body. It doesn’t hide my tears.It burns.”

“In the last few days he had forgotten about himself and tried to help those around him. It was like he was a new moon, and his actions and attitude filled up the void over time—much like how a waxing moon filled the new moon with light.”

“Life is a test of your sanity, and believe me you never make it out without going a little crazy along the way.”

“Following Alyssa, they all walked over to the green clearing in front of the mess hall. It was where they'd held most of the all-camp activities, like games. Jenna sighed, remembering all the good times she'd had there---the gossip, the giggles, the crazy conversations.”

“Then He who loves me drew me very near Him, and there in the stillness he reminded me about the time He prayed in the garden under the shadow of the cross-shaped cloud. He had prayed until He literally sweat blood; He prayed for another way if possible, and yet He prayed for God's will to be done and not His own. I looked at Him and noticed the thorn scars on His brow, which in the shadowed light of clouds seemed more pronounced, and I thought of Him hanging in agony on the cross as His Father turned His face away and He cried from the depths of His soul, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" I wondered about the disciples and Jesus' friends who stood that day at the foot of the cross. They must have felt so sad and frightened and alone as Jesus breathed His last, and the cloud of death engulfed them and took their beloved Jesus from them, along with all their hopes and dreams. When the clouds seemed darkest and the storm raged about them, behind it all God was working out His plan with precision timing and perfection. Three days later as the clouds of grief hung thick and heavy, Mary Magdalene went early to the tomb; and it was there, as the eastern sky was just waking up, it revealed with breathtaking beauty that Jesus had walked out of the tomb: the stone rolled away, the cloud of death lifted.”