"The fallacy is to assume that because I have studied and lived in a society that somehow wound up with prosperity and peace, I know enough to plan for other societies to have prosperity and peace. As my friend April once said, this is like thinking the racehorses can be put in charge of building the racetracks." ~ The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good, William Easterly
"Healing with Jesus isn't New Age-y and gentle. It is frequently about pain: which might explain, I realized, why Jesus often asks the desperate people who come to him, Do you want to be well? Do you want to be well if getting well hurts? Do you want to be well if it separates you from your old identity? Do you want to be well more than you want to stay the same? Real healing means, more than anything, following the truth: and thus a call to change and conversion."
Jesus Freak: Feeding, Healing, Raising the Dead ~ Sara Miles
"God's a lot bigger than your short term missions trip; stop petting the poor; be yourself, seek to understand; think, again; try, try again; actions speak louder than words; give up trying to see who's in [a Christian] and who's out; love God, love others." ~ Serving With Eyes Wide Open, David Livermore
"Poor people die not only because of the world's indifference to their poverty, but also because of ineffective efforts by those who do care. To escape the cycle of tragedy, we have to be tough on the ideas of the Planners, even while we salute their goodwill." ~ White Man's Burden, William Easterly
"Many of us assume that we have a lot to teach the materially poor about God and that we should be the ones preaching from the pulpit, teaching the Sunday school class, or leading the vacation Bible school. We do have much to share out of our knowledge and experiences, but oftentimes the materially poor have an even deeper walk with God and have insights and experiences that they can share with us, if we would just stop talking and listen."~ When Helping Hurts, Corbett & Fikkert
"The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them." ~ Thomas Merton
