"What makes authentic disciples is not visions, ecstasies, biblical mastery of chapter and verse, or spectacular success in ministry, but a capacity for faithfulness. Buffeted by the fickle winds of failure, battered by their own unruly emotions, and bruised by rejection and ridicule, authentic disciples may have stumbled and frequently fallen, endured lapses and relapses, gotten handcuffed to the fleshpots and wandered to a far country. Yet, they kept coming back to Jesus.

After life has lined their faces a little, many followers of Jesus come into a coherent sense of themselves for the first time. When they modestly claim, 'I am still a ragamuffin, but I'm different' they are right. Where sin abounded, grace has more abounded."

--Brennan Manning