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I’ve received private notes and sympathetic phone calls from people regarding the depression I wrote about on June 30. I appreciate people’s genuine concern, as well as their statements that they’ve been encouraged as they go through their own struggles, many of which are tougher than mine.

God is not the author of evil. Neither, however, is He ever the victim of evil. His hands are never tied by evil. He's never painted into a corner by evil. When Jesus went to the cross He didn't fall into Satan's trap—Satan fell into His. Wills were being exercised, but men weren't calling the shots—God was.

I’ve had nearly six weeks now in which I’ve no longer experienced the depression I was battling the prior two months, which I blogged about June 30. (See also part 2 of this Spurgeon series.) Like some physical problems I’ve had, I don’t know why the depression came or why it left. (Add this to my very long list of things I can’t explain.)

We view life through an extra social category called ‘adolescence’, a category that would have been completely foreign to men and women just 100 years ago.

At 9:00 PM Thursday, I got a phone call from Nanci as I was putting grandson Matthew Franklin to bed in the room that once was his mother’s. As Nanci talked, in the background was a loud cry, out of the mouth of Jack Timothy Franklin. Jack had just come into the world at 7 pounds, 12 ounces, and 19.5 inches.

The following twelve point cure for complaining is the Word of God’s corrective to the spirit of entitlement and ingratitude that’s poisoning our culture, and too often the church as well. 

Here’s a photo I took Saturday on Mount Lassen, at about 7,000 feet. The lake, the flowers, the sky—beauty popping up out of barrenness, all declaring God’s glory.  

As promised, here are Ann Tatlock’s insights on the Harry Potter series.

There were some interesting comments and very good questions raised regarding my last week’s blog on Harry Potter. I wish I had time to address these, and hope to do so later.  

Scholastic’s first US printing of the new Deathly Hallows, released last week, was an unprecedented twelve million copies. Over eight million copies sold in the first 24 hours. A newscaster said the other night that five thousand Harry Potter books are being sold every minute in the United States.

Okay, back to ICRS, the booksellers’ convention earlier this month in Atlanta. Yesterday, someone sent me a picture from a book signing there. That’s Jasmine I’m holding. Precious.

Yesterday was one of the most exhausting days of my life. I stood in front of a video camera nearly the whole day, answering questions about Heaven, covering nearly all the major subject areas addressed in my books.

I got back late last week from the annual Christian Booksellers convention. Always in July, it’s normally in a hot, sweaty southern city. This year was Atlanta, next year is Orlando. We haven’t been back to Dallas since it hit 120 degrees several years ago. Now if we could only have it in Portland or Seattle... Anyway, I’m going to spend a couple blogs talking about it.

Tell Me About Heaven is about a grandfather helping ten-year-old Jake come to terms with his grandmother’s death. Jake has all kinds of questions about Heaven, and what his grandma is doing and whether she remembers him. When he spends two weeks at his grandfather’s house out in the country, they do things together and talk about Heaven as they go.