Page 60:

"Do not apply secular methods to meet spiritual needs."

"With Christ, success is not performance; it's surrender."

"To succeed is to surrender your motives, ambitions, and priorities to Christ.  Seek to know Him more personally."

"Measure your worth and gain your identity by faithfulness to Christ, not by production." 

"Let your service come from the overflow of a vital daily communion with the living Lord."

Prayer: "Where I am walking the path to disillusionment I pray You will redirect my steps."

Page 84:

"His teachings are hard."

"He won't work the way we want Him to work."

Prayer: "I have told You about all the things I want from You.  Now tell me what You want from me."

Page 179:

Patrick gets an unsatisfactory mountain cabin. Should he:
A) Call the rental agent up and demand a different place (seems a rational choice).
B) Get his money back (seems a rational choice).
C) "Surrender to the Holy Spirit in our circumstances as they exist" (seems NOT to be a rational choice).

"C" is the answer. Do not change the circumstances, change me.

"When rationality clashes with the Word, leave your suspected genius behind.  At the end of the day, faith is more important than rationality, and faith always triumphs over circumstances.  Leave room in your thinking for spiritual mystery."

"By faith we yield control of every detail to the Spirit.  A successful Christian life doesn't need the rationality of sight, but it does need the faith of surrender."

"Circumstances appear difficult.  The logical rational thing would be to make a change.  Look a little longer before you make that change.  What is God trying to teach you?  Have you surrendered your circumstances to Him?"

Patrick feels that God set up the experience deliberately because that's where Patrick's "character was weak, where I wasn't ready to fully surrender (to the Holy Spirit in our circumstances as they exist)".

My opinion: 

I've read this multiple times and I'm still not sure about its meaning.  Maybe the Holy Spirit wanted him to talk to person(s) about a refund or a new cabin.  It could have easily went:
I was walking to the manager's cabin for a resolution when I came across this (person/situation) and (helped/encouraged/discovered...).  I would've never been involved if I'd gotten the cabin I'd hoped for.

That mountain cabin for me would've been the kick-in-the-pants I occasionally need to get me moving in the (right?) direction.  So far it seems to be the right direction.  My best moments in life were due to me taking action on something that was SO motivating that I had to get up and do something about it.  I can say the same regarding my favorite character developments.

Prayer: "Show me how You want to change my character."

Page 215:

"Believe that He only has your best interests in His heart and surrender tomorrow to Him"

"Trust tomorrow to the perfection of Christ's promise"

Prayer: "I have been frustrated about my future, nervous about my life. I confess that I have not trusted tomorrow to You, but I have been seeking to orchestrate my own future. Help me to be content with my life, and to take no thought for the morrow. I will trust You."

Chapter 50:

Patrick brings up the story of Paul who got the "calling" to preach. Then something strange happened. After only a few days, Paul disappeared into "the desert for three years because there was something that God still needed to work into -- or out of -- Paul."

This "lag" was to prepare Paul for the "sending". God "always equips us for the calling before the sending. He will never give us a task for which we are not sufficiently equipped."

As for the sending, "God will reveal that day with an unmistakable signal."

"You need not worry that you will miss it. You will not. God will not let you."

Prayer: "I confess that I have been frustrated with my life. I have been called but not sent, and I have resisted, even resented, the lack of direction in my life. Help me to relax and enjoy the lag. And show me the thing(s) to add and subtract."

Patrick's ideas that may be useful for any church: