Almost five years ago, J. I. Packer, one of my favorite writers and favorite people, went to be with Jesus.  There are many people I respect, but not many I’m in awe of. Dr. Packer is one of them. My life first as a child of God, and then as a pastor and writer, has been deeply affected by him.

When his book Knowing God came out in 1973, I was a young Christian. God used it in my life profoundly. It is still one of my top five books of all time. If you haven’t read it, order it now and get ready for a treat, and then read anything and everything by J. I. Packer. I have benefited greatly from Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, and years later God spoke to me through Keep in Step with the Spirit. My love for the Puritans deepened when reading A Quest for Godliness. I have profited too from his Shorter Writings and in speaking against the health and wealth gospel I have quoted from his unlikely named Hot Tub Religion. But start with Knowing God. (You can read chapter one here.)

Back in 2009, I was asked to be on a panel on Heaven and Hell at a book conference. When I asked who else would be on the panel, they mentioned J. I. Packer, and my response was, “I will do it as long as I can sit next to Dr. Packer.” (The organizers kindly accommodated my request!)

Thirty-six years after reading Knowing God as a teenager, it was surreal to be chatting and drinking Starbucks and hanging out with Dr. Packer before the panel started. In fact, as we talked, J. I. mentioned that he hadn’t had time to get coffee with his breakfast. Nanci quickly and cheerfully offered to get him a drink from Starbucks. With a twinkle in her eye, she told me later, “I got coffee for J. I. Packer!”

That time with him was great, but what really left me speechless was that during the panel discussion, J. I. reached in his briefcase and pulled out my big Heaven book and read from it! And not because he disagreed, which was initially the only reason I could think of for him referring to it.

J. I. Packer pulling out my Heaven book was REALLY too much. Then when he made a nice comment about my book, I dropped my face into my hands, and people started laughing. Later, looking over his shoulder, I could see the book was worn and he had marked it up. Knowing Dr. Packer had written about the great Puritan Richard Baxter, I was amazed and touched that he said my book was for the current time what Richard Baxter’s The Saints Everlasting Rest was in the seventeenth century. This was typical of his kindness and graciousness that encouraged so many of us.

At one point later in the panel discussion Dr. Packer answered a question, then leaned over and looked at me sincerely, whispering, “Do you think that was right?”

What I thought was, “You are J. I. Packer. I am an idiot.” What I said, nodding my head too emphatically, was “Yes.”

Here's the clip of J. I. reading that Richard Baxter quote:

This is the text of the Baxter quote he read:

If there be so certain and glorious a rest for the saints, why is there no more industrious seeking after it? One would think, if a man did but once hear of such unspeakable glory to be obtained, and believed what he heard to be true, he should be transported with the vehemency of his desire after it, and should almost forget to eat and drink, and should care for nothing else, and speak of and inquire after nothing else, but how to get this treasure. And yet people who hear of it daily, and profess to believe it as a fundamental article of their faith, do as little mind it, or labour for it, as if they had never heard of any such thing, or did not believe one word they hear.