What I believe

Six things I believe about the pause before you hit send.

1. Read the paragraph, not the line. A verse can say almost anything on its own. Before I hand you one, I have read what comes before and after it, and if the passage is about something else, it doesn’t go on the page, however good the sentence sounds.
2. Keep the promises the text actually makes. Some verses were written to one person or one nation about one event. I say so. A principle can carry from Babylon to a hospital room; a guarantee cannot be manufactured from it.
3. Say why it fits, or don’t send it. Every verse here comes with who said it, to whom, and what was happening. If I can’t write that note honestly in a few sentences, it is the wrong verse.
4. Fewer, better. Seven verses chosen for a situation help more than forty found by keyword. A person in grief does not need a list; they need the one you would give them if you had time to read the whole chapter first.
5. No agenda. I don’t take a denominational position, I don’t settle arguments, and I don’t give medical, legal, or financial advice. I choose verses for how they meet a moment, not for what they prove.
6. Sometimes the verse is not what they need. Presence matters more than words, and a crisis needs a doctor or a crisis line before it needs a passage. On the pages where that is true, I say it, and I would rather you call than quote.

The full method is on How I choose verses, and the two-minute version you can do yourself is here. If a page on this site breaks one of these, tell me. I will fix it.