Page 8 - Daniel

Foreword

n the last few weeks before my father died we had time to celebrate

Ihis life, tell stories about past family events, and dream a little about
the future. His mind and memory were sharp and he was as upbeat and
confident as ever. He was ninety-two years of age, had lived a full life,
and had served well the Lord he loved.

The doctors had given him six weeks to live, and in that time we
relived many a family story. He was visited by a parade of his close
friends, many influential leaders he had taught and mentored. From his
hospital room were days filled with warm memories and laughter, and
an occasional hymn echoed down the hall.

My father had a list of things he entrusted to me as his oldest son. But
in the last week of his life, the conversation turned to the seventy years

he had dedicated to the study of the Bible. And in all that time, he
explained, four key books of the Bible had been the subject of his most
intense study; Revelation, Daniel, Matthew, and 1st and 2nd Thessalonians.
He shared stories about how they were first written, taught, and
eventually published.

I remember many of those times. Every summer our family piled into
our car and drove across the U.S. and sometimes into Canada. We went
from one Bible conference to another, but a lot of that time was spent on
the road. And always somewhere in the car was a cardboard box filled

with books.
Many nights Dad put us to bed and quietly went into a motel
bathroom to read and take notes. Then when he was ready he would
dictate an entire chapter, footnotes and all. So whether on the road or at

home, this scholarly work was of ten done late at night and early in the
morning. And it continued all his life.

His dream in those final conversations was that his work and biblical
insights would live on after him. He remembered how the commentaries
and works of some of the great teachers of the Bible lived on for