Joe Imel/Daily NewsChristian recording artist Jamie Slocum performs this morning at the 18th annual Bowling Green Area Prayer Breakfast.

Talking about something routine might seem, well, routine. But Gayle Erwin brought the routine to life for more than 200 guests who attended this morning’s 18th annual Bowling Green Area Prayer Breakfast at the National Corvette Museum.

Erwin, a well-known speaker and author of several books, spoke on the Bible verse John 3:16.

“It is so quotable and so routine that we hardly pay attention to it anymore,” Erwin said. Still, the verse that is so commonly memorized is very important if you break it down and look at what it says. First, Erwin said, we must look at the way it begins.

“It doesn’t say, ‘For God so tolerated the world,’ or ‘put up with it,’ ” Erwin pointed out. “It says, ‘For God so loved the world.’ ”

While this is a wonderful truth, it is also challenging, he said.

“It bothers me because he loves people I don’t like,” Erwin said. “This shakes my whole thinking because I realize this transcends borders and politics.”

Erwin said he believes many Christians think God is not happy with them, but no matter what you have done, his love remains.

“I don’t care how you feel about yourself, I can tell you how God feels,” Erwin said. “He is crazy about you.”

The next part of the verse shows how God proved his love for us, Erwin explained.

“He loved the world so much that he didn’t negotiate with us, he gave.”

And giving, as it turns out, is essential to our own happiness, he said.

“The more you think about yourself, the more miserable you become,” Erwin said. “Happy people are constantly doing benevolent things for other people.”

And God’s gift of his own son was a gift that proved how much we mean to him, he said.

“God values you so much that he put in a bid nobody could top,” Erwin said.

And with the gift of his son, Erwin said, God offered us eternal life to whoever believes in him.

“God is the author of life, and if there is anything that he wants, it is for us to have life,” Erwin continued.

All things that are alive want to stay alive. Sometimes people go to ridiculous lengths for even a chance to extend their own lives, Erwin said, mentioning a couple who apparently weren’t very happy in life, but they had a lot of money so they had themselves frozen hoping that someday they could be brought back to life.

“We know that there has to be something better for us and there is,” Erwin said. God made a provision for us to live by sending his son, Jesus, into the world.

“As Jesus was given to us, so we continue to give,” Erwin said.

Erwin encouraged the crowd to pursue happiness by pursuing God and focusing on others.

“And if we can only muster one prayer, thank you would be enough,” he said.

Erwin is best known for writing the book “The Jesus Style,” which has sold more than 500,000 copies and has been translated into 35 languages. Prayer Breakfast President Mike Wilson introduced Erwin by saying he had read many books in his life, but few had left an impression quite like “The Jesus Style.”

The breakfast also featured Dove Award nominee Jamie Slocum, who sang for the crowd as it gathered and enjoyed the meal.