So many differences exist between the writing of The Cup and the Glory and The Darkness and the Glory. One of the biggest differences was that I had already gone through the process of writing a book, so I had a much better idea of what I was doing. Another difference, as many of you know, The Cup and the Glory never started out to be a book; it turned into a book as I was completing it. However, I knew The Darkness and the Glory was a book before I wrote the first word, which to me anyway, makes it a “better book” in the sense of its flow and organization, plus we all learn more as we study—myself included.
By the time The Cup and the Glory came into print, I had interacted with thousands of people over a ten-year period from places where I spoke, emails, and other various means. This was the introductory study that I did with many groups and mission conferences. Since this was the place where I started my study on the Glory of God, I reasoned it was (and still is) a good place for others who want to study the Glory of God should start as well.
With The Darkness and the Glory, I did some sessions at a church in Wilmington, NC, but very few people read the entire book. After all, if publishers would not publish The Cup and the Glory, I reasoned that they would not want to do the second book (although I did submit it to a few publishers). Unlike The Cup and the Glory, where I gave it to people, “charged” them prayer, and told them to send it to someone they thought needed it (that was one way I heard from so many people who read it), other than using portions from it at a few appropriate places in my classes, for the most part The Darkness and the Glory sat in my office for about 10-11 years (although I had a lot of requests from students to read it who knew the book existed). John MacArthur was only about the twentieth person to read the book, reading it in later 2007-early 2008.By the way, in a much too long story, John MacArthur spoke in chapel at SEBTS on September 2-4, 2003. I was his chauffer to the airport on Thursday of that week. That is how I met him and first talked with him (other than shaking hands with him in a long receiving line many years previous to this).
I was on a sabbatical from Southeastern for the Spring Semester of 2005. I had a great deal of things I wanted to study and a couple of speaking engagements already planned. On February 25-27, 2005 I was asked to do four sessions on the material in the first few chapters of The Darkness and the Glory at The Master’s Church, in Burlington, N.C. with friends of mine, Pastor Rob Thurman and his wife Ashley. Before we began the sessions, I told the church that I would have to leave them hanging (because of the number of sessions they had asked me to do; I knew where we would end). The group said that was fine with them, but I really left them hanging, as we ended where chapter two “The View” concludes with “God the Father approaching God the Son.” Some of the people in the group even followed me to my car to ask me follow up questions as I was leaving.
It was during this weekend in Burlington, NC that Dr. Dick Mayhue from The Master’s Seminary had left a voice message on my answering machine. I returned his call on Saturday, and we set up a phone appointment for Monday. On February 28, 2005 Dick Mayhue extends an invitation from John MacArthur to me to be on faculty at The Master’s Seminary. My life became very complicated all of sudden. All my plans I had for my sabbatical abruptly changed. I really had not expected the invitation to be on faculty at The Master’s Seminary to ever come about (a very long story), so I was overwhelmingly stunned when they offered me the position; it is one of the highest honors and privileges of my life to be even asked to be a part of that faculty. I was so overwhelmed by this abrupt change in plans and pending decision that I could not concentrate on my other studies. I had my first extended sessions on The Darkness and the Glory coming up in about a month, and I could not concentrate on my much-needed preparation because of the burden of my wife and me wrestling through all that was involved in leaving where we lived in the small town of Wake Forest, NC and moving all the way across the United States to the Los Angeles, CA area.
No comments:
Post a Comment