Rod Decker LEAD_thumbRod Decker was strong enough to finish two books and send them to the printer last winter—strong enough to write the introductions, strong enough to sign them the way he signed the others:

Soli Deo Gloria.

With a sharp mind trapped inside a body that was slowly shutting down, Rod suffered through the roughest winter of his life. Unable to return to his classes at Baptist Bible Seminary, he invested his remaining energy writing at home, confined to a chair by the fire, warmed by wood he had chopped ahead of time. He was ready for what he called the “inescapable reality” of death.

“I’ve been ‘terminal’ for over 60 years,” he said with typical humor and theological precision.