Answer the big question of eternity, and the little questions of life fall into perspective.

I think the hardest questions had to do with suffering. It had to do with all of our church members and friends passing through difficult times. Sometimes it's the global climate: tsunamis, earthquakes, radiation. I think these kinds of questions are absolutely the most difficult, yet we need to be ready to respond to them because we have to be able as pastors to walk people through these valleys, these tough times in their lives.

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

Does God understand you? Find the answer in Bethlehem.

I didn't want to just write stories that were entertaining. Nor did I want to be so scholarly that people couldn't digest it.

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.

God is recruiting for himself a people who will populate heaven.