When you keep the porch light on for the prodigal child, you do what God does every single moment.

Ggrace is God's best idea - it's His decision to ravage people by love, to rescue passionately, and to restore justly.

Who are they to give stars or dots? They're Wemmicks just like you." Eli to Punchinello (p. 25)

So immediately I'm trying to think: What are some of these times when we feel we're losing our hold on Christ, and what's the fear we're trying to address? I try to get into that quickly.

Nails didn't hold God to a cross. Love did.

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've found great virtue in two-thirds of the way into the message; right before I'm really want to nail home a point, pausing to tell a joke or to tell a light-hearted story, because I know my audience has been working with me now for 20 or 25 minutes. And if I can get them to laugh, get oxygen into their system, it wakes up those who might be sleeping, so there's something about using a story to draw people back in right before you drive home your final point. In that case I think it's real legitimate just to use a story for story's sake.