1. Instead of a death sentence, those brothers hear the words of deliverance.
  2. Five promises were seemingly all those apostles, staring into the sky, had to go on. Five promises that were more than enough.
  3. The Good Shepherd doesn’t leave the sheep to fend for themselves.
  4. In Israel today, it's still possible to witness the same scene the disciples saw 2000 years ago when the Bedouin shepherds bring their flocks home from various pastures at the end of the day.
  5. This is the sound of freedom. The Eternal One died so that we who are dying might live eternally with him.
  6. He declared you what you might not always feel you are, but what you were from the moment he knew you, before you were you, when he foreknew you.
  7. He shows up when we are at our worst to usher us back to his side, lead us to repentance, rescue us, and reclaim us as his own.
  8. Sometimes, we get prayer dementia. We can’t remember what we were going to pray for, we can’t put the words together, and, frustrated, there is nothing we can do but sigh and groan.
  9. What if the dissonance in this calendrical coincidence can be harmonized into a deeper melody?
  10. It would serve us well to embrace the beauty of our diversity within the unity of the body of Christ.