“The essence of the Christian life is trust.”

“Trust is our gift back to God, and He finds it so enchanting that Jesus died for the love of it.”

“Unwavering trust is such a rare and priceless treasure because it often demands a degree of courage that borders on the heroic.”

“At the age of 68, after a truly ragged journey, that I would call a journey of sin and mercy, I am abosolutely convinced that it means more to Jesus to say ‘I trust you’, than to say ‘I love you’.”

— Brennan Manning

(I pulled these quotes from a talk Manning gave many years ago – one I have probably listened to twenty times already. I was recently giving a short talk to a church college group and these words came to mind as I pieced together the mission report. As I thought about some of the stories of our life and ministry, the theme of trust, unwavering trust, kept surfacing. I was especially challenged by that last quote above. It makes me wonder what life would look like if I could so easily and consistently say to God “I trust you”, and then live as if I did.)