Daniel > Daniel's Quotes

“In a written lament then words cannot simply be dumped or gushed or mushed as in initial grief. Here one cannot simply vomit out feelings but must choose words. Not that the lament is cold, objective, and detached. Rather the intensity of one's emotions unite with the discipline of one's mind to produce structured sorrow, a sort of authorized version of distress, a kind of coherent agony. In a lament, therefore, words are carefully selected, crafted, honed, to express loss as closely yet fully as possible.”
― Dale Ralph Davis, 2 Samuel: Out of Every Adversity

“When I’ve been teaching for a while, I sometimes stop abruptly and say, «you know, something very strange happened while I was on my journey here today.» Immediately people look up and take an interest. They want to know what happened. They want to hear the story. I usually then dissapoint them by saying, «Actually, nothing happened. But I notice how interested you all became when you though I was going to tell you a story.. That shows how powerful stories are in engaging attention. That’s why God gave us so many stories in the Bible. God knows how to get our attention.»”
― Christopher Wright, How to preach the Old Testament