1. I want the beginning of my funeral to be focused on Jesus, as well as the middle, the end, and every point in between.
  2. Who we are buried with matters. But there is no need to go out and find a dead prophet so you can join him six feet under.
  3. The promise here is that God is present with us in our troubles, issuing commands to save us before we ask. God does not ignore our suffering and cries.
  4. We cannot love first. Therefore God comes, takes hold of the heart, and says: "Learn to know me."
  5. God is often hidden in history, even as we make it now, but He is always manifest where He has promised to be.
  6. You can die now, you can let go, and because that is true, you can begin to live!
  7. God is not a preoccupied parent, he’s an invested and interested tender loving Father. He values what perplexes us.
  8. This is the patient love of God. He is stubborn about the salvation of sinners. He will not be rushed even if his name is mocked, and the trustworthiness of his promises are called into question.
  9. This world of unbearable grief and accidental calamity is being renewed and, soon, will be completely bereft of every pernicious foe.
  10. There is perhaps no better observation about the nature of anxiety and depression than its fundamental desire for avoidance.
  11. The firestorm of the Reformation which turned Europe upside-down was not Luther’s doing. It was the Word, and the Spirit working through it.
  12. Rest doesn’t come cheap. Perhaps there’s no scarcer commodity in our time. Plenty sell it, but there’s no warranty, and it seldom lasts.