“We are attempting to play God, when maybe God put ushere in the first place.” Father Tomas’s words by the stream came back to me. I could see his stick in theriver, the water dividing on either side. “We can only move forward with what we have been given. Negotiatethe river of life. Of time. And we’ve been given this,” I pleaded, waving at our circle. “Family. Love. Joy. Life.Can we not embrace it, for as long as we have it? Isn’t it what we all most dearly want, deep down?”

“I believe this country has already been painted by the hand of God. We can cover it over with our own creations, but it will merely mar what is already perfect”

“God calls us to life, to love, to healing. We merely have to find our way home.”

“His eyes opened, and he stared at me. The morning light was streaming through the window,and my hair rolled in waves over either shoulder.“God has smiled upon me. I have the most beautiful wife in all the land.”

“We all belong to Him, from the cradle to the grave, whether we know it or not. And He'll see justice done in His own time and in His own way. Now if we trust in Him, that's all we have to think about. I'm not saying it's easy. I'm just saying it's what I think we're go do.”

“I think the truth to living fully is to appreciate what we have, day by day, regardless of what we know might come our way.”

“And sometimes, God asks us to wrestle with the unfamiliar until it becomes our new familiar. Until we can breathe freely in that new place.”