Randy Alcorn

I was one of those people tweeting and Facebooking to celebrate Tebow and the Broncos winning their playoff game Sunday.

Nanci and I are enjoying our first week with our new Golden Retriever puppy, Maggie Grace, who is nine weeks old. She’s pretty adorable, so I keep pulling out the camera.

A few months ago, someone asked me on my Facebook page what Christian biographies I would recommend. Reading and discussing biographies of faithful believers can give both children and adults footprints to follow, especially through our suffering.

I always enjoy J.I. Packer. I read this in his book Great Joy, and as I meditated on it, I thought of Colossians 1:29: "For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me."

There isn’t a better New Year’s resolution than what starts in the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3:7-8.

Question from a reader: What book would you recommend on authorial intent? And have you heard of The Ungospel? One of my professors at my Christian college recommended it.

I have always loved stories, and the Bible is the greatest story ever written. The unfolding drama of redemption is a story, but it is a true story. When we write fiction, what we are doing is making up a story as, what J.R.R. Tolkien called, ‘sub-creators.’ Creators with a small ‘c.’ We are made in his image, so we can invent a story, and that story, though invented, is not ‘false.’

My Bible study method is eclectic. Sometimes I read through the Bible in a year long program. Other times, I simply open God’s word to a portion of Scripture and meditate on it, asking God for guidance.