1. My goal here isn’t to selfishly reflect on all the reasons I will miss Rod because I know that if you are reading this, you may miss this man, too.
  2. God demonstrates his great love for us in the actions of Jesus, who came down into the flesh and soaked up all our sin.
  3. When the Savior gets on our trail, nothing, not even the grave and hell, can stop him.
  4. In normal human relationships, when reconciliation is necessary, we place the burden on the person who did wrong, who disrupted the relationship.
  5. A “good death” and “good life” are not accomplished through personal striving but are grasped by faith in the promises of God.
  6. When we believe in Jesus as the true and better fulfillment of every promise made to Abraham, we, too, are counted as righteous in the same way that he was — by faith.
  7. Your justification isn’t a matter of “Jesus plus” anything.
  8. What’s the big deal about Jesus’ name?
  9. I didn’t see Christmas as a gift given to me to enjoy, I saw Christmas as a long list of expectations I needed to hold up to love those around me.
  10. Can you imagine Christmas from creation’s point of view?
  11. Luke shows us that when we try to fit God into our life movie, the plot is all wrong; and not just wrong but trivial.
  12. We still think we can sort own own problems with more money, more education, more resources, more techniques, more, more, more.