Selected qutoes from "The Jesus I Never Knew" by Philip Yancey

* Jesus, I found, bore little resemblance to the Mr Rogers figure I learned in Sunday 
schol... people affected Jesus deeply; obstinancy frustrated Him, self-righteousness 
infuriated Him, simple faith thrilled Him. Indeed, he seemd more emotional and 
spontaneous than the average person, not less. More passionate, not less.

* God's power... is internal & noncoercive... in its commitment to transform gently 
from the inside out and in its relentless dependence on human choice. As every 
parent & every lover knows, love can be rendered powerless if the one loved 
chooses to spurn it

* God made Himself weak for one purpose: to let human beings choose freely what 
to do with Him.

* God's terrible insistence on human freedom is so absolute He granted us the power 
to live as though He did not exist, to spit in His face, to crucify Him.

* Love has its own power, the only power ultimtely capable of conquering the 
human heart.

* Jesus was 'the man for others,' he kept Himself free- free for the other person. 
People liked being with Jesus; where He was, joy was.

* Dependence, humility, simplicity, cooperation and a sense of abandon are qualities 
greatly prized in the Christian life, but extremely elusive for people who live in 
comfort.

* What makes us human is not our mind but our heart, not our ability to think but 
our ability to love.

* Not even God, with all His power, can force a human being to love.

* Grace is for the desparate, the needy, the broken, those who cannot make it on 
their own. Grace is for all of us.

* Somehow we have created a community of respectbility in the church. The down 
and out, who flocked to Jesus on earth, no longer feel welcome.

* Jesus was often 'moved by compassion,' this word was used maternally to express 
what a mother feels for her child in the womb. Jesus went out of His way to embrace 
the unloved and unworthy, the folks who matter not at all to the rest of society- they 
embarrass us, we wish they'd go away- to prove that even 'nobodies' matter infinitely 
to God.

* Because God loves the poor, the suffering, the persecuted, so should we. Because 
God sees no undesirables, neither should we.

* God... has taken on a disguise, a most unlikely disguise of the stranger, the poor, 
the hungry, the prisoner, the sick, the ragged ones of the earth... If we cannot detect 
God's presence in the world, it may be that we have been looking in the wrong 
places.

* Jesus reveals a God who comes in search for us, a God who makes room for our 
freedom even when it costs the Son's life, a God who is vulnerable. Above all, Jesus 
reveals a God who is love.

* In a nutshell, the Bible from Genesis to Revelation tells the story of a God reckless 
with desire to get His family back.