People will come to test and divide us, but, as long as we keep compassion in our hearts for others, they won't win.

Problem can get bigger or smaller, it all depends on how we view it individually.

Nothing could have been more imprudent or more natural than this reply. It reflected the ecstasy inspired by great crises.

Shall I make you a cup of tea? He asked. It was the classic response to crisis practiced throughout these islands—in England, Scotland, and elsewhere. Emotional turmoil, danger, even disaster could be faced with far greater equanimity if the kettle was switched on. War has been declared! There’s been a major earthquake! The stock market has collapsed! Oh really? Let me put the kettle on….

Why is it that crisis pushes me to my own devices when those devices are frequently the very things that produced my crisis in the first place?

Ninety-nine per cent of traditional English literature concerns people who never have to worry about money at all. We always seem to be watching or reading about emotional crises among folk who live in a world of great fortune both in matters of luck and money; stories and fantasies about rock stars and film stars, sporting millionaires and models; jet-setting members of the aristocracy and international financiers.

In your walk with Christ, you shall meet crises, but, when crises arise, remember Christ!

They that fail to recognize, take and and learn the lessons of discomfort well, meet the comforts of life and still live in discomfort.

If where we are now and whatever we are going through does not motivate us to leave this world better than the way we met it, we are in this world for wrong reasons.

Ultimately, we are much more addicted than the junkie because we are responsible for not only our own demise, but the breakdown of the entire natural world. There is no other appropriate response to a situation this grave, this utterly overwhelming, than powerlessness. It has taken countless generations to arrive in this predicament; a solution cannot arise overnight. It will take work. It will take time.