Over the last year, in every free moment I had, whenever I was not committed to other ministry activities, I have been hunched over my computer keyboard translating the theological opus magnum de of Dr. Jack Cottrell; Faith Once For All. This significant work is a compendium of Biblical theology that covers nearly every theme of significance with a clear and well reasoned logic based on massive Biblical evidence.
There we times when the job seemed overwhelming. There were times when I wished I had never committed myself to taking on this task. There we times when I wondered if I would ever get finished. Today, I finished translating the last page of the last chapter. It was a sense of overwhelming relief and massive joy as I send that chapter off for revision.
This project had originally been started by missionaries in another country. For nearly one year they kept saying they were working on it and it would be done in a certain amount of time. Finally, when pressed to send it what had been done, nothing arrived. Finally, the editorially staff at College Press insisted that they produce some results or relinquish any efforts on this project. They chose to withdraw from the effort and did not send in any completed portions of the book.
Since I had been insisting on the need for this book to be translated into Spanish for some time, I was asked to do a significant part of the translation. Missionaries in Chile had also been asking about this book. As a result, I was asked to translate nineteen of the thirty three chapters in the book. I accepted the responsibility and began working. I sent in my first translated chapter in July of last year. From that time forward, whenever I have not been deeply committed to some other aspect of ministry, I have been here in my office working diligently on the translation.
It was a plodding and tedious job as I had to be very careful to understand the logic and the ideas that Dr. Cottrell was expressing. Some parts of the book were fairly straight forward and the translation moved right along. Other parts were very difficult and there were times when I spent an entire day struggling with a single paragraph. But I tried to make it a goal to finish at least one page for every single day that I was not away from the apartment on a ministry trip. Nearly three hundred pages later, I found myself working on the last chapter of the book.
In an effort to finish the book and then have time for other ministry opportunities that have languished, I resolved to not even leave the apartment unless for church or some necessity. I translated for long hours with hardly a break. As the last chapter progressed, I felt an increasing sense of urgency as I wanted to be finally done. Yesterday I worked all day and until fairly late in the evening. When I finally turned in for the night, I lacked only about three more pages.
This morning, I began working on what was the final stretch. All morning and until early afternoon, I disciplined myself to keep at it. Then at what would be a late lunch hour, I finished the last line of the last page. I could hardly contain my joy at finally being finished. Join me in singing praises to God for the completion of this very important work. We will soon have a genuine Biblical theology to use in training our preachers and for use in the Bible College. To God be the glory…