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Henri J. M. Nouwen:

The question of where to live and what to do is really insignificant compared to the question of how to keep the eyes of my heart focused on God. I can be teaching at Yale, working in the bakery at the Genesee Abbey, or walking around with poor children in Peru, and feel totally useless, miserable, and depressed in all these situations.

There is no such thing as the right place, the right job, the right calling or ministry. I can be happy or unhappy in all situations. I am sure of it, because I have been. I have felt distraught and joyful in situations of abundance as well as poverty, in situations of popularity and anonymity, in situations of success and failure. The difference was never based on the situation itself, but always on my state of mind and heart. When I knew I was walking with God, I always felt happy and at peace. When I was entangled in my own complaints and emotional needs, I always felt restless and divided.

It is a simple truth that comes to me now, in a time when I have to decide about my future. Deciding to do this, that, or the other for the next five, ten, or twenty years is no great decision. Turning fully, unconditionally, and without fear to God is. Yet this awareness sets me free.

Finished reading: The Doctrine of Scripture by Brad East 📚

A joyous, lyrical volume on Scripture. Brad’s (enviably) clear prose, free of scholarly jargon or copious footnotes, could mislead readers as to the deep learning that undergirds all that’s said in these pages. But there’s a wealth of knowledge funding this lively book. Even as un-Protestant as it is (Brad denies sola scriptura and the scriptural attributes of clarity and sufficiency), it is still a marvelous book. I hope that tells you something. The chapters on “Ends” and “Interpretation” were highlights for me.