This  is an absolutely incredible interview with Rick Warren, author  of
          'Purpose Driven Life'  His wife now has cancer, and he now  has 'wealth'
          from the book sales.  In the interview by Paul  Bradshaw with Rick
          Warren,  Rick said:

          'People ask me, 'What is the purpose of life?'  And I respond: In a
          nutshell, life is preparation for eternity.  We were made to last
          forever, and God wants us to be with Him  in Heaven

          One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the  end of my
          body--but not the end of me.

          I may live 60 to 100  years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions
          of years in  eternity.  This is the warm-up act - the dress  rehearsal.

          God wants us to practice on earth what we will do  forever in eternity.
          We were made by God and for God, and until you  figure that out, life
          isn't going to make sense.

          Life is a  series of problems:  Either you are in one now, you're  just
          coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another  one. The
          reason for this is that God is more interested in your  character than
          your comfort

          God is more interested in making  your life holy than He is in making
          your life happy.

          We can be  reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of
          life. The  goal is to grow in character.

          This past year has been the  greatest year of my life but also the
          toughest, with my wife, Kay,  getting cancer.

          I used to think that life was hills and valleys -  you go through a dark
          time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and  forth.  I don't believe
          that anymore.

          Rather than life  being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of
          like two rails  on a railroad track, and at all times you have something
          good and  something bad in your life.

          No matter how good things are in your  life, there is always something
          bad that needs to be worked  on.

          And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is  always something
          good you can thank God for.

          You can focus on  your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.  If
          you focus  on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, 'which
          is my  problem, my issues, my pain.'

          But one of the easiest ways to get  rid of pain is to get your focus off
          yourself and onto God and  others.

          We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of  hundreds of
          thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or  make it easy for
          her.

          It has been very difficult for her, and  yet God has strengthened her
          character, given her a ministry of  helping other people, given her a
          testimony, drawn her closer to Him  and to people.

          You have to learn to deal with both the good and  the bad of life.
          Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good  is harder.  For
          instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when  the book sold 15 million
          copies, it made me instantly very  wealthy.

          It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had  to deal with
          before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety  for your own ego
          or for you to live a life of ease.

          So I began  to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety
          and  influence.  He gave me two different passages that helped me  decide
          what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.

          First, in  spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our
          lifestyle  one bit.  We made no major purchases.

          Second, about midway  through last year, I stopped taking a salary from
          the church.  Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call
          The  Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor,  care
          for the sick, and educate the next generation.

          Fourth, I  added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since
          I  started the church, and I gave it all back.  It was liberating to  be
          able to serve God for free.

          We need to ask ourselves:  Am I going to live for possessions?
          Popularity?

          Am I  going to be driven by pressures?  Guilt?  Bitterness?  Materialism?
          Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my  life)?

          When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed  and say, God,
          if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know  You more and
          love You better.  God didn't put me on earth just  to fulfill a to-do list.

          He's more interested in what I am than  what I do.  That's why we're
          called human beings, not  human doings.

          Happy moments, PRAISE GOD. Difficult moments,  SEEK GOD. Quiet moments,
          WORSHIP GOD. Painful moments, TRUST GOD.  Every moment, THANK GOD. '