“Personal ministry is not about always knowing what to say. It is not about fixing everything in sight that is broken. Personal ministry is about connecting people with Christ so that they are able to think as he would have them think, desire what he says is best, and do what he calls them to do even if their circumstances never get "fixed." It involves exposing hurt, lost, and confused people to God's glory, so that they give up their pursuit of their own glory and live for his.”

“Because there’s nothing wrong with me,” Alec says. “You know what is? Our society is so screwed up from top to bottom, everything about it, that it’s become impossible to fix. It’s easier to change people and make them fit into something that’s broken. Know what I mean?”

“The thing about Wes," Delia said to me, unwrapping another package ofturkey, "is that he thinks hecan fix anything. And if he can't fix it, he can at least do something with thepieces of what's broken.”

“David thought living in a house was very difficult. It was not the house itself--that was lovely to be in--but the people. What was so difficult about them was that they constantly seemed to expect him to say and do things he would never have though of, and what appeared sensible and natural to him seemed to surprise them...”

“What can you do with a person who says that he is absolutely uncertain about everything, and that he is absolutely certain about that?”

“Some people want it all and expect it all; always looking outward, so often proclaiming what they deserve, even more saying what they want, and all thinking another should provide it for them. Do they ever bother to be the person they think someone else would love to have?”