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"And he said to all, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.'"
Luke 9:23-24 (ESV)>
"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried."
G.K. Chesterton, *What's Wrong with the World*>
"You never go away from us, yet we have difficulty in returning to You. Come, Lord, stir us and call us back, kindle and seize us, be our fire and our sweetness. Let us love. Let us run."
Augustine, *Confessions*, Book VIII>
"The fire of grace does not consume but waters the soul; it does not burn but gathers it. It does not distress but refreshes, as the dew descending on the plants. For the Spirit of God is a dew of refreshment to the saints and a fire of terror to sinners."
Basil the Great, *On the Holy Spirit*, Chapter 19>
"The one principle of hell is -- 'I am my own.' The one principle of heaven is -- 'I am the Lord's.' The man who has begun to see that he is not his own, and that the thing he is doing is not what he would do himself, has begun to enter into the region of obedience. The man who obeys is free. The man who is his own master is a slave."
George MacDonald, *Unspoken Sermons*If you knew with certainty that Christ returns five years from today, what would you stop doing by tomorrow morning?
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"I would rather be right than be First Man in Rome."
Cato the Younger, as recorded in Plutarch's *Life of Cato the Younger*St. Clair, Michigan -- Sunny, +50°F, Humidity 85%, Wind SW 6mph