I think a story is an attention grabber. I think it's a truth conveyor. Those are two great features of a good story.

I think "creative preaching" is redundant.

I don't get asked a lot of questions about who is the best political candidate or what my position is on what the Senate is about to do.

If the purpose of life is just to live this life and then die, it's hard to answer the purpose of pain question; but if we can help people see from an eternal perspective - that all of this is working together to prepare us for something higher than we've ever imagined, more noble than we've ever dreamed - then we discover some hope that we can hold on to.

God gives us people to love and things to use, not things to love and people to use.

It's one thing to be discouraged. It's another thing to have despair. Despair is when you think there's just no end to this [suffering]. There's no solution for this. Despair is when you think that your suffering has no purpose, and your suffering has no end.

We might question God's actions, decisions, or declarations. But we can never, ever question his zany, stunning, unquenchable affection.