Quotes about Friendship

I do know plenty of atheists, agnostics and skeptics who have become Christians through the years. In fact, several of my friends were once strong atheists but are now committed followers of Jesus.

Adrian Neville, who's my best friend, I rode with him on the road. He was the most crisp, athletic, poignant guy - never missed a step. It was insane. I had never seen anybody who could move in a wrestling ring like him; it was like second-nature to him. Flips - name it - agile jumping in and out of the ring effortlessly to the top rope like crazy.

What some now call 'emerging Christianity' or 'the emerging church' is not something you join, establish, or invent. You just name it and then you see it everywhere- already in place! Such nongroup groups, the 'two or three' gathered in deep truth, create a whole new level of affiliation, dialogue, and friendship...

We have been shown how to fight hate without becoming hate ourselves. We have been given a Companion and a Friend and not just a good idea. We have been given joy in the midst of failure, and not just a way of winning or being right.

Traveling the road of healthy religion and true contemplation will lead to calmly held boundaries, which need neither to be defended constantly nor abdicated in the name of "friendship." This road is a "narrow road that few travel upon" these days (Matt. 7:14). It is what many of us like to call "the Third Way": the tertium quid that emerges only when you hold the tension of opposites.

I did not see many examples of God "smiting" his enemies; in fact, it was usually God's friends who got smited, as Teresa of Avila noted! If God asked me to love unconditionally and universally, then it was clear that God operated in the same way.

Time is exactly what we do not have. What decreases in a culture of affluence is precisely and strangely time—along with wisdom and friendship. These are the very things that the human heart was created for, that the human heart feeds on and lives for. No wonder we are producing so many depressed, unhealthy and even violent people, while also leaving a huge carbon footprint on this poor planet.

First half of life folks will seldom have the courage to go forward at this point unless they have a guide, a friend, a Virgil, a Tiresias, a Beatrice, a soul friend or a stumbling block to guide them toward the goal. There are few in our religious culture who understand the necessity of mature, internalized conscience so wise guides are hard to find. You will have many more Aarons building you golden calves than Moses' leading you on any exodus.

The key to friendship with God, he said, is not changing what you do, but changing your attitude toward what you do.

Prayer lets you speak to God; meditation lets God speak to you. Both are essential to becoming a friend of God.

If perfection was a requirement for friendship with God, we would never be able to be his friends. Fortunately, because of God's grace, Jesus is still the "friend of sinners.

It's encouraging to know that all of God's closest friends — Moses, David, Abraham, Job, and others — had bouts with doubt. But instead of masking their misgivings with pious clichés, they candidly voiced them openly and publicly. Expressing doubt is sometimes the first step toward the next level of intimacy with God.