When we read about Bunyan's life, we read about the goodness of God and the compassion of Jesus Christ for us.

When we think about Bunyan's life, it's so hard to avoid the fact that he's just so creative.

He's connecting the dots. God created this world and we get to take care of this world under his authority.

He is trying to combine words in a way that show the beauty and glory of our God.

Champ Thornton serves as director of children and family resources at Crossway

and is the author of numerous books for kids and families,

and his newest book is The Story of John Bunyan,

the prisoner who wrote Pilgrim's Progress,

which is part of Crossway's Lives of Faith and Grace series for middle grade readers.

Champ, thanks so much for joining me again on the Crossway podcast.

Matt, as always, it's great to be with you.

Thanks for having me on the show.

Yeah, so I wonder if we can start off with a little bit of a more creative, I guess, creative way to start this.

So you've written this book for kids related to the life

and the legacy of John Bunyan. And I wonder if you can just start by telling us that when you

hear that name, when you think about him as a man, what are like the first three words that come into

your mind? Not Paul Bunyan. That's what I think.

There's no blue ox in this guy's story.

No blue ox. This man did not dig the Grand Canyon.

Is that part of the Paul Bunyan legend, the Grand Canyon?

I think I heard that somewhere recently and I thought, yeah, okay.

No, this is a totally different guy, John Bunyan.

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