Quotes from Charles Martin

That was the night I learned the value of an old hymn. How something so old and "out-of-date" could say words my heart needed to hear and didn't know how to say.

The river never changes. it may alter it's path a bit, but it never changes. It's us who change. We come back here and we're are different. Not it. Form can't be extracted from the essence like some broth reduction. This river's taught me a good bit. Probably why I don't leave here. It winds, weaves, snakes around. Rarely goes the same twice. But, in the end, it always ends up in the same place and the gift is never the same. ...it's the journey that matters.

What about all that 'turn the other cheek' stuff?" Dad's eyes narrowed. "When someone's trying to control you, you come out swinging. And keep swinging. Bible never said be a doormat.

In my experience, it's those words on the tip of the tongue that we most need to hear. They are the key. The thing that's missing. But you can't pull them out. They have to be offered. Freely. And they won't be offered until the owner trusts you with them. And to do that means they've got to break through a world of hurt and pain just to get them out of their mouth. I caught my reflection in the mirror.

If someone is bent on hurting herself, she'll find a way to do it. She was a grown woman; sooner or later, she was responsible for herself.

Indifference is the curse of this age. Indifference is evil, and it couldn't be farther from the heart of God. Afterword - On Digging a Well p. 359

If you're riding a dead horse… dismount.

It's so dry the trees are bribing the dogs.

Could you wash Judas's feet?

We wrestle and search. But regardless of where we search and how we try to answer the question or what we ingest, inject, or swallow to numb the nagging, only the Father gets to tell us who we are. Period.

Don't let the fear of what might be rob you of the promise of what can.

To some, a guitar is just wood and string. To others, it's a shoulder, a jealous mistress, danger, sabbath, a voice in the wilderness, a suit of armor, a curtain to hide behind, a rock to stand on, a flying carpet, a hammer. But sometimes, in moments where light meets the dark, it's a stake we drive in the ground and the darkness rolls back as a scroll.