Schuller was warm and personable. He was familiar with the Paradoxical Commandments that I wrote in 1968. When he visited India as part of the U.S. delegation at Mother Teresa's funeral, he was shown the Paradoxical Commandments on the wall of the children's home she ran in Calcutta. Two years later, he put them into the first chapter of his book, "Turning Hurts into Halos."

As we walked, Schuller asked me to tell him how the Paradoxical Commandments relate to the Bible and the Christian faith.

"Good Friday," I said.

He gave me a big smile. "Good Friday?" he said.

"Yes," I continued. "On Good Friday, the world did its worst to Jesus. But Jesus loved people anyway. He forgave people anyway. He saved people anyway."

He nodded. We climbed the stairs, walked into the sanctuary, and joined his son on the dais. As the service progressed, I saw that Schuller was looking at the script in the three-ring binder on his lap. His staff had given him a set of questions to ask me, questions that had been shared with me before I arrived. However, when it came time for the interview, he abandoned the script. He introduced me to the congregation, asked me to recite the Paradoxical Commandments, and then explain why I wrote them. He invited me to tell a story from one of my books.

Then he turned, looked at me, and said: "Good Friday."

I knew that was my cue to share with others what I had just shared with him.

I explained that when I was growing up, the story of Good Friday used to hurt. It hurt to know that Christ was beaten, scourged and forced to carry the cross; was nailed to the cross; and suffered and died on the cross. Then I realized that that was only part of the story.

The other part of the story was how Jesus responded to the way the world treated him. And his response was astonishing. It was breathtaking. In the face of all the pain and hate and cruelty, he loved people anyway. He forgave people anyway. He saved people anyway.

What a powerful message! And what I took from it was the idea that each of us, each day, can live our faith, and love God, and love each other, and do what we know is right and good and true, no matter what the world does to us.

That's the idea behind the Paradoxical Commandments.

Flying back to Honolulu, I decided it was time to give a complete answer to that simple question that Schuller first asked me in the basement corridor. I am now writing a new book on the Paradoxical Commandments. It is for Christians, and it is based completely on the Bible. The working title? "Jesus Did It Anyway."