My son (and my wife's son too) Joshua got engaged tonight to Haleigh Garnett! Sharon and I are very pleased. We think the wedding may be next June/July (?) but we'll have to wait a few weeks until all sorts of people are consulted.
Joshua asked Haleigh "the question" down on one knee on the shores of a Texas lake. She said something like, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh . . . I would love to!" (I assume this answer can be taken as an expressive "yes")
The two of them came back to our house, where unknown to Haleigh, a group of their friends and her parents (both sets) and grandparents had gathered with us to celebrate with ice-cream cake and some sparkling grape juice for a toast. Lots of hugs, a few tears of joy, and lots of laughter.
I am so thankful to God for the godly young woman who will be marrying my son. Haleigh started her relationship with the Lord about four years ago shortly after Joshua met her at an AA meeting. She asked Sharon to disciple her and for almost a year they met in our kitchen every Monday night to learn how to study the Bible and get to know the Lord. At Haleigh's request and with the backing of our home church, Waterbrook Bible Fellowship, Sharon had the great
privilege of baptizing her a couple of years ago. Haleigh is going to graduate this next summer from Criswell College where Joshua too will graduate at the same time. I believe God has something special in mind for these two. What a privilege to have had a part in their lives. Tonight I am rejoicing in God's goodness and mercy toward my son, my future daughter-in-law, and also to Sharon and myself.
About 6 years ago I coauthored a commentary on Genesis with Dr. Kenn Gangel (who recently passed away) in the Holman Old Testament Commentary series edited by Max Anders (http://www.amazon.com/Holman-Old-Testament-Commentary-Genesis/dp/0805494618/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251556690&sr=8-1). Yesterday I received a copy of a book in Korean with the translated English title "Main Idea." Apparently (since I am struggling to read Korean!) it is the Korean translation of the commentary I coauthored. It does
has my name on it (in English: click on the photo to the right and you can get a larger view of the front cover) and I'll get one of my Korean students at DTS to take a look at it and assure me that the translation doesn't have me writing heresy! I (By the way, the dedication of this book was to my daughter Sarah who proofread it and made great suggestions on it to me. Her name is still on the dedication page of the Korean translation!) I'll post the back cover and dedication page at the bottom of this post. I have a sabbatical coming up in two years (I was asked to postpone it from 2010-2011 so I could have two years in my new position as Chair of the Bible Exposition Department) and this encourages me to continue to think about writing something during that time that would be of help to pastors and other believers in the local church. I'm thinking right now of something from the OT prophets since they are not used much and many struggle to understand them even in their devotional reading. Any ideas from those of you who know me or have heard me preach or teach? (A really good suggestion could get you mentioned in the forward of the book!)
