Francis Chan -- Impacted by Writing a Book on Hell

Francis Chan is writing a book called, "Erasing Hell." In this video he talks about how writing this book has impacted his life. This is an outstanding video. I love the spirit he demonstrates as he talks about this controversial topic. Can't wait to read his book. It's scheduled for release on July 5th.

My Outstanding Son

I love how this photo captures my son Cody's personality. He is easy going, has a great attitude, and is so much fun to hang out with.

Of course, we had many wrestling matches over the years, that either I won or I let him win. Well...now he's 17 and I'm not really encouraging wrestling matches between us these days! He's taller than me, and has gotten a lot stronger over the years. I think I can still win against him in arm wrestling, but I haven't been challenging him to that lately either.

Thanks, Cody, for being the most outstanding son! I love you and I'm so proud of you!

Like New Strings on Guitars

I learned how to play guitar when I was 12 years old. My parents generously paid for my guitar lessons and drove me to my lessons. It was great. I've loved playing the guitar ever since.

One thing I realized early on was that if you don't change the strings on the guitar frequently enough, it starts to sound substandard. But it happens gradually, so you really don't notice it until it gets really bad. Then, finally, when you take the time to put new strings on the guitar...WOW what a difference!

My son, Cody, and I changed strings on our guitars last Sunday. Great time changing those strings together. The real excitement, however, came when we were finished stringing them. The sound was fantastic! It's easy to forget how good that guitar could sound. Of course, along the way there was the unpacking of the strings, the stretching of the strings, the clipping of the strings, and the fine-tuning of the strings.

As followers of Jesus, we are like new strings on guitars. First, we come out of the package for use, and the Lord stretches us and clips us, and of course he regularly tunes us. Great thing about it is that He never stretches us beyond what we can take. And He's always re-tuning us.

Sometimes we make strong major-sounding music, and other times our songs are in minor keys. Amazing how the Lord is able to make great music through His followers. And the most amazing thing is the Lord can make us always sound new. "Eternal guitar strings" if you will.

May you find the joy of being like new strings on a guitar, being cared for by the Master Guitar Player Himself. Psalm 150:4b "...praise him with strings..."