Compassion and Justice

"Mr. al-Megrahi did not show his victims any comfort or compassion … but that alone is not a reason for us to deny compassion to him and his family in his final days." —Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill

Al-Megrahi, former Libyan secret service agent who has prostrate cancer and only three months left to live, "is the only person ever convicted in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on Dec. 21, 1988." —CBC News

Happiness and Goodness

The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy - I mean that if you are happy you will be good.
- Bertrand Russell

Dead People Live

Jesus did not come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people live.

--Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola

Honesty vs. Abandonment

"When we are honest with God, when our souls have been laid bare, and we experience his acceptance, the fear of abandonment subsides."



James Bryan Smith. Embracing the Love of God: The Path and Promise of Christian Life. HarperSanFransico: New York (1995). p.38

Weakness and Strength

The paradox here is that God's strength is realized upon the admission of weakness. In other words, the homosexual tendency becomes the channel of God's strength once submitted to him.



Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 95.

Simple Acceptance

"Grace heals our shame not by trying to find something good and lovely within us that is worth loving but by looking at us as we are, the good and the bad, the lovely and the unlovely, and simply accepting us."



James Bryan Smith. Embracing the Love of God: The Path and Promise of Christian Life. HarperSanFransico: New York (1995). p.38

Power and Battle

One does not become empowered solely in isolation; that power becomes fully realized in battle.



Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 93

Don't Try to Fix Yourself

"Trying to improve our existing selves is precisely our problem.... We may fear that God will draw away from us if we are honest, but in fact the opposite movement occurs.... 'Here I am, God. You know I am broken and wayward and foolish.' These words dismantle our pride and allow God to penetrate our hearts."


James Bryan Smith. Embracing the Love of God: The Path and Promise of Christian Life. HarperSanFransico: New York (1995). p.36, 37

Focus and Access

One whose focus on Jesus is undivided has more ready access to Him.



Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 90

Community and Truth

"We lack community in many churches precisely because we have been ashamed to admit that we are sick. Admitting the truth of who we really are is the first step to building real community."


James Bryan Smith. Embracing the Love of God: The Path and Promise of Christian Life. HarperSanFransico: New York (1995). p.35

Yielding and Trust

With each experience of yielding to Jesus, trust developed.



Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 84

If God Abandoned Me

"...if my God would abandon me I would commit more misdeeds than any other man."



St. Francis of Assisi as quoted by James Bryan Smith. Embracing the Love of God: The Path and Promise of Christian Life. HarperSanFransico: New York (1995). p.34

One's True Self

To find one's true self, one must forsake all falsehood and follow Jesus.



Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 85.

Let It Go!

"...the answer to our struggle is to let go of the need to feel important."



James Bryan Smith. Embracing the Love of God: The Path and Promise of Christian Life. HarperSanFransico: New York (1995). p.33

Struggles after Repentance

...homosexual relationships and addictive behavior don't cease to be a struggle simply because they're named as sin and repented of.



Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 84.

Resign Yourself To It

" 'It will do you no harm to find yourself ridiculous.... Resign yourself to be the fool you are.' "



A psychiatrist in The Cocktail Party by T. S. Eliot, quoted by James Bryan Smith. Embracing the Love of God: The Path and Promise of Christian Life. HarperSanFransico: New York (1995). p.32

Healing--The Pain has just Begun

When we will to be free and submit the brokenness at hand to Jesus and His people, the pain has just begun. The wearisome pain of deception eases, but in its place is the pain that lies at the core of the homosexual struggle. The pain of rejection and deprivation, of abuse, of loneliness, of the anxiety built by years of feeling alienated within and without--that which we have tried to ease again and again through homosexual pursuits--this is the pain Jesus wants to get at in order to heal the heart.



Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 81.

We don't Want to See It

"The reason we have such trouble accepting ourselves as God accepts us is that we do not want to see ourselves as God sees us...a sinner capable of great sin."



James Bryan Smith. Embracing the Love of God: The Path and Promise of Christian Life. HarperSanFransico: New York (1995). p.31

Willing to be Vulnerable

The first work of repentance is a willingness to be vulnerable, to confess that "this is a real problem that is really mine and that I cannot resolve on my own."



Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 80.

There Is No Escape

"The anguish of shame cannot be escaped. We can be drenched with praise and applause and it still remains. We can be morally perfect, flawless in our actions, and it is still with us. We can take a pill and wait for the pain to subside, but it returns when the drug wears off. The agony cannot be escaped, but it can be healed."



James Bryan Smith. Embracing the Love of God: The Path and Promise of Christian Life. HarperSanFransico: New York (1995). p.29

Become Rooted in Jesus First

"...most people with homosexual tendencies need first simply to become rooted in Jesus and His community. It would be premature to insist that they immediately face squarely the specifics of sexual brokenness."



Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 75.

I Can't Believe It!

"Why do we find it easy to believe God accepts everyone else and hard to believe he accepts us? The answer is that we are filled with too much shame."



James Bryan Smith. Embracing the Love of God: The Path and Promise of Christian Life. HarperSanFransico: New York (1995). p.27

Seek First...

"That fundamental willingness to seek first the kingdom rather than illicit pursuits is a key to healing."



Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 74.

No More Resolutions

“God’s love for me has radically reshaped my identity. I no longer need to defend myself, make resolutions to do better, or show God that I have atoned for my sins.”



James Bryan Smith. Embracing the Love of God: The Path and Promise of Christian Life. HarperSanFransico: New York (1995). p.20

Will I Seek Him Even Then?

"The struggler must count the cost of commitment. He must ask himself, Will I continue to seek Him when I don't feel like it? When I feel more like entering into a gay relationship or some compulsive habit? When the going gets rough and neither God nor His people seem readily available? When God isn't meeting my expectations of how and when healing should occur in my life? Will I see Him even then?



Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 73

What's Your Focus?

“By shifting the focus away from myself and onto Christ and his love for me, I have noticed that everything comes into view.”


James Bryan Smith. Embracing the Love of God: The Path and Promise of Christian Life. HarperSanFransico: New York (1995). p.19

Accomplishments and Snares

"As I grew in the early years of my Christian walk, each new accomplishment was matched by a new snare."



Andrew Comiskey. Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual. Creation House, Lake Mary, Florida (1989) page 71.

Torrid Passion

“The torrid passion sometimes felt between two human beings is a pale reflection of the burning desire God has for us. It was love, not a theory of redemption, that made the martyrs sing praise while being tortured.”



James Bryan Smith. Embracing the Love of God: The Path and Promise of Christian Life. HarperSanFransico: New York (1995). p.16

God is More

“Whatever we are allowed to discover about God, he is more.”



James Bryan Smith. Embracing the Love of God: The Path and Promise of Christian Life. HarperSanFransico: New York (1995). p.16

Core of Christian Faith

“...the core concept of the Christian faith [is] the message that God loves us, searches after us, and longs for us to be whole.”



James Bryan Smith. Embracing the Love of God: The Path and Promise of Christian Life. HarperSanFransico: New York (1995). p.11