“We are all stumbling and falling under our own crosses,those carved from our hands, our sweat,and those not of our own making.”

“God helps those who help themselves.'...If God waits around to seeif we can pull off miracles without him, then I concludethat Godis playing games with us.”

“Amazing how the soup pots of small townsare just waiting to boil over anything at all.”

“(N.B. I think this is from a hymn.)O joy that seekest me through pain,I cannot close my heart to thee;I trace the rainbow through the rain,And feel the promise is not vain,That morn shall tearless be.”

“The desire to know the future gnaws at our bones. That is where it started, and might have ended, years ago.I had cast the stones, seeing their faces flicker and fall: Death, Love, Murder, Treachery, Hope. We are a treacherous people - half of our stones show betrayal and violence and death from those close, death from those far away. It is not so with other peoples. I have seen other sets that show only natural disasters: death from sickness, from age, the pain of a broken heart, loss in childbirth. And those stones are more than half full with pleasure and joy and plain, solid warnings like "You reap what you sow" and "Victory is not the same as satisfaction."Of course, we live in a land taken by force, by battle and murder and invasion. It is not so surprising that our stones reflect our history.”

“...a person can't tame God. He's wild as a lion. He'll haunt you.”

“Now I will know alwaysthe thrill of a kiss,and know what it is I am cursed to live without.”