Saturday, July 19, 2008

J. I. Packer and Roger Nicole at ICRS




Tullian writes about our time with these two heroes of the faith:
Dr. Nicole and Dr. Packer have been close friends for exactly 50 years and being able to watch them together was (and Kim agrees with me) the most moving and meaningful exhibition of Christian friendship I have ever seen. They showed such deep love and respect for each other.

One quick story: Kim, Justin, Dr. Packer, Dr. Nicole, and I were walking from the Orlando Convention Center across the street to our hotel. It was the annual gathering of Christian authors and publishers and so as we were walking many people recognized Dr. Packer and stopped to say “hello.” Only one person stopped and recognized Dr. Nicole (who is not nearly as well known as Dr. Packer). However, after that one person stopped Dr. Nicole, Dr. Packer (wanting to make sure his friend knew that he was just as important as he was) said, “You have to expect that people are going to recognize you Roger and want to talk with you. You are a very important man.” It showed just how humble and sensitive to the Holy Spirit Dr. Packer is. He didn’t want Dr. Nicole to feel outshined by him so he made nothing of the many who recognized him, but everything of the one who recognized Dr. Nicole.