How many sayings come to mind that are related to home? Home is where the heart is ... Home is where you hang your hat ... You can’t go home again ... There’s no place like home.

In my last blog entry, I brought up the subject of home. I think it’s a topic for our time: Where is home? Do we get enough of it? Why have so many of us lost it?

There are a few things in life that just leave you breathless, in that sort of stunned-silence kind of way.

The Grand Canyon is one of those places. You can’t really grasp its enormous beauty by looking at a photo. Even picturing it in your mind doesn’t compare to actually being there.

Gettysburg is another one. It grabs you and won’t let you go. Wandering through the acres and acres of famed battlefield, remembering the sacrifices of the soldiers there, you can’t help but be humbled and a little speechless.

There’s this guy I’ve heard about who interests me. His name is Jimmy.

Who do you think of when you imagine someone named Jimmy? A boy down the street riding his bike? A fellow in overalls who drives a truck?

How about a man who has a deep and seasoned faith, possesses a great deal of Bible knowhow and, by the way, is a former President of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize Winner?

Now I know that as soon as I bring politics into my little blog entry here, it will be natural for a whole host of associations to come to mind. But hold off for a minute.

I’m in the book business, and one of the things I have learned is that certain words in titles can work against you when you are trying to entice someone to buy a book. Two of those words are relationships and community. Are those the first topics that come to mind when you want to spend your money on a book? Not me. They sound a little dry.

Did you know that hope and listening are connected? I think on some level we all know that, but consider it a little further.

Do you realize just how many stories you tell someone in a week, a month, a year? We all tell real life stories, all the time, whether we know it or not.

Here’s a quick one. A few years back, my teenage daughters and I were watching one of those holiday parades on television in our living room. After watching a few marching bands go by, I planned with my girls to play a trick on my wife, who was in the kitchen.

My friend Lee asked me if I’d help out creating a Lenten devotional booklet for our church. He promised to find 40 writers among the congregation and to take care of logistical tasks, and I’d help smooth out the writing and set up the manuscript. One of the biggest challenges of this project was to not let it get too big. We didn’t have much time, and it was a lot of folks to coordinate.

Sunday night’s 54th Annual Grammy Awards reminded me once again that I’m thankful for the gift of music.

Last week I dropped off my daughter at her dance studio and noticed on the table in the waiting area a book that’s climbed the bestseller lists in recent months: Heaven Is for Real, by Todd Burpo.

This week’s blog was written by senior editor Beth Adams, who recently worked on a book we think you’ll enjoy.