The Secret Place of Thunder Quotes

“But we don't get a harvest of joy without the sowing of tears. If we merely try to "keep it light", escaping or numbing our pain, or just gritting our teeth and bearing it, we will miss the harvest. Our tears are seeds ... God won't simple replace our tears with joy. Our tears, themselves, become a path to joy.”
― John Starke, The Secret Place of Thunder: Trading Our Need to Be Noticed for a Hidden Life with Christ

“Just like in our bodily resurrection in the end, what we offer the ground as a seed is our dead body, not the gloriously resurrected one. Take note: what we offer Christ is not a transformed life, but simple our life.”
― John Starke, The Secret Place of Thunder: Trading Our Need to Be Noticed for a Hidden Life with Christ

“While we crave the "I want your life" comments on Instagram, what we need is the Father's consistent voice telling us "you are my beloved. Well done. I love you." The affirmation of the world is a moving target, leaving us perpetually anxious and cultivating our insecurities, but the Father's voice of love is stable and firm, forming us into resilient people.”
― John Starke, The Secret Place of Thunder: Trading Our Need to Be Noticed for a Hidden Life with Christ

“Babylon makes two kinds of promises - maximum control and maximum freedom. With maximum control, I am in complete control of my destiny. I form my identity and justify my existence, needing noone else to define or shape my life. I belong to myself.

Maximum freedom is a newer development. In previous societies, people identified themselves as citizens and neighbours. But now, we are primarily consumers and spectators.”
― John Starke, The Secret Place of Thunder: Trading Our Need to Be Noticed for a Hidden Life with Christ

“Maturity is the subtle, long term plan for the way the kingdom of God is at work in us and through us and our participation in it. It's the slow path of growing out of the performative life into a life of imitating Christ.”
― John Starke, The Secret Place of Thunder: Trading Our Need to Be Noticed for a Hidden Life with Christ

“Jesus began his work with those who were supposed to be invisible at the party ... Jesus starts in hidden places with forgettable people, intentionally steering away from crowd-pleasers.”
― John Starke, The Secret Place of Thunder: Trading Our Need to Be Noticed for a Hidden Life with Christ

“Strange gods don't take the same form nowadays as temples, icons and sacrifices, but they stick to the same scheme of manipulating the desires and cravings of our hearts. They seem trustworthy and reasonable ... we grasp for paths and promises that desensitize us to his love, but if we will come in an undefended state ("open wide your mouths"), he will fill us.”
― John Starke, The Secret Place of Thunder: Trading Our Need to Be Noticed for a Hidden Life with Christ

“[Jesus] seems to be indifferent to what we do to dazzle others.”
― John Starke, The Secret Place of Thunder: Trading Our Need to Be Noticed for a Hidden Life with Christ

“When Jesus says his Father sees in secret and gives us his rewards, he's not describing a transactional dynamic. Jesus is pointing out a contrast of rewards - attention from others (and whatever that may grant you) versus attention from God ... the reward is being seen by God our Father ... you have a reward that is better than empty and short-term validation. You have a Father who looks at you and says "You are my beloved daughter, you are my beloved son, in you I am well pleased." Nothing is better than that.”
― John Starke, The Secret Place of Thunder: Trading Our Need to Be Noticed for a Hidden Life with Christ

“When Jesus says his Father sees in secret and gives us his rewards, he's not describing a transactional dynamic. Jesus is pointing out a contrast of rewards - attention from others (and whatever that may grant you) versus attention from God ... the reward is being seen by God our Father.”
― John Starke, The Secret Place of Thunder: Trading Our Need to Be Noticed for a Hidden Life with Christ

“Instead of places to be formed, institutions have become place to perform ... if noone sees our efforts, how are to make a difference? How are we to be loved? But Jesus and the New Testament writers show us that there is a spiritual potency to hiddenness.”
― John Starke, The Secret Place of Thunder: Trading Our Need to Be Noticed for a Hidden Life with Christ

“If our relationships are enhancing our sense of self, we happily stick around. But when relationships begin to demand that we change or sacrifice, our commitment to those relationships will diminish or we will leave.”
― John Starke, The Secret Place of Thunder: Trading Our Need to Be Noticed for a Hidden Life with Christ

“In other words, our culture supports individual expressions of a curated identity.”
― John Starke, The Secret Place of Thunder: Trading Our Need to Be Noticed for a Hidden Life with Christ

“We have been shaped to perform for likes, but we do not know how to be loved.”
― John Starke, The Secret Place of Thunder: Trading Our Need to Be Noticed for a Hidden Life with Christ