After many happy years as a husband, father and pastor, Mike Wilkins caught “a nasty case of terminal cancer”—which, of course, changed everything. His new role, as he perceived it, was to practice what he had been preaching for decades. “These years have not been horrible,” he writes. “On the contrary, for me, and my magnificent wife, this experience has been loaded with the peace of God, and the joy of the Lord is our strength.” GLORY IN THE FACE explains what Wilkins learned by experience about “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
ENDORSEMENTS
“With wit, humour, intelligence and wisdom, Wilkins shares his deep love for God with a poignancy that comes from a life lived earnestly to the glory of God. He does this with an illuminating nod to other spiritual thinkers who have helped him on this journey. Whether in joy or grief, contentedness or suffering, Wilkins’ words remind us that God’s glory permeates our broken world with intimations of hope for the restored one. In seeking God’s face, we face nothing, not even death, alone. And in the seeking, nothing, not even death, is in vain.”
Dr. Carolyn Weber is an award-winning author, speaker and professor. Her books include Surprised by Oxford (HarperCollins) and Holy is the Day (IVP).
“Finding the strength to face anything”! What qualifies someone to write a book that accomplishes such a formidable objective? For starters, a command of the English language so that the reading itself would be a pleasure. Secondly, a well developed, truly biblical theology since the source of the strength is God himself. Thirdly, wisdom to apply the knowledge of God’s character and ways to the point where the proverbial rubber meets the road in the life of the reader. Fourthly and perhaps most importantly, finding that very strength to handle prolonged personal suffering without loss of faith and with grace. In my friend Mike Wilkins, these four strands have converged to produce the book that you now hold in your hands. It will remain one of my most treasured possessions, celebrating as it does, a blessed friendship that has lasted 33 years at the time of writing.”
Rev. Sunder Krishnan served as the Preaching Pastor of Rexdale Alliance Church (in Toronto), from 1980-2016, and was its Senior Pastor since 1996. He is the author of several books, including The Conquest of Inner Space: Finding Peace in a Chaotic World, and Hijacked by Glory: From the Pew to the Nations.138
“For more than four decades, Mike Wilkins has blessed many with his faithful, creative, engaging, and practical expositions of Scripture. His challenging and inspiring reflections in this book are no exception. Light-heartedly interspersing poignant musings on his own life (and his recent “fall from health”) with skilled and masterful meditations on Scripture, Wilkins insightfully probes the deep theological soils of one of the apostle Paul’s richest letters (2 Corinthians).”
Dr. Bruce W. Longenecker is Professor of Early Christianity and the Melton Chair of Religion at Baylor University (Texas). He is the author of a number of books, including The Lost Letters of Pergamum (Baker Academic) and The Cross before Constantine: The Early Life of a Christian Symbol (Fortress Press).
