The Unusual Writing Journey of "The Lord Jesus Christ: Fully Man and Fully God"

by Margaret Lepke

Hi Everyone … this is going to be the fastest blog post I have ever written. Unedited, unfixed, unadorned. Not by choice, but out of necessity. It's late and I am sooo tired, and I desperately need some sleep, but tonight’s the deadline for this post...

The reason for my tiredness? My husband had open heart surgery 2 weeks ago, then a stroke, and by God’s grace I brought him home last night. I spent all day every day at the hospital – plus two and a half hours’ drive each day. And even having him home again (which is wonderful, and for which I am very, very grateful) is hard work. But for this, I have Jesus. He is there during the good times and the hard times, and He gives strength and peace and does amazing things.  

By the way, I have discovered that hospitals provide great opportunities for speaking with people about Jesus. On the morning I was waiting during the five hour operation, I was reading a commentary on Paul’s Letters to the Thessalonians when a woman sat down next to me and started a conversation because of what she had seen me read. I ended up giving her the book because I sensed that she did not have the same hope (although she believes in God). And then there were opportunities to hand out tracts my husband had written some time ago. He was a very good patient and everyone was amazed that this stroke victim had written such a beautifully presented tract. They happily received one. I even had opportunities to give my own book to people who will hopefully gain a deeper understanding about Jesus and develop a relationship with Him when (or if) they read it.

And that brings me to the main purpose of this post: the unusual writing journey of this little book. I am so glad that God sometimes pushes us to do what we are reluctant to do, even after we find a hundred thousand reasons why we can’t do it. Sort of like Jonah. Let me tell you what happened…

The Lord Jesus Christ: Fully Man and Fully God

One day last year the discussion in our Bible Study group focused on whether Jesus was truly God. Both June (my best friend and closest sister in Christ) and I had previously spoken with people who didn’t believe so, or weren’t sure, and both of us had been on personal quests to settle this question for ourselves. So when the topic resurfaced, we searched for a book that would present a biblical view, was focused on Scripture rather than lengthy theological debates, and was reader-friendly yet comprehensive and concise. A book we could hand to someone who was seeking answers. When we couldn’t find anything suitable we decided to write out own (that was my task). 

June came over and dictated all of her notes so that I would have them in typed form (she still hand-writes everything!). The mountain of unsorted bits and pieces was growing before my eyes and, together with all the research I had previously accumulated but never sorted, it seemed too much and I felt overwhelmed. I knew that the need for the book was great because many new Christians don't really grasp who Jesus really is, and even older Christians can’t always give scriptural reasons for their beliefs. And then there are all the people of other faiths who believe that Jesus existed, but they don’t know the biblical Jesus and therefore don't have salvation. Yet in spite of these incentives and my promise to pull our materials together and write the book, I kept stalling. As I said, a hundred thousand excuses. But then God stepped in...

During August and September last year I kept getting the flu, which is very unusual for me. Then, in October, I fell from a ladder while hanging up balloons for my husband’s birthday and damaged my coccyx. Something else was damaged requiring an immediate operation and, long story short, I could not sit down for almost five months. The first weeks were spent in bed while reading everything on my book stack and more, but then I began to feel restless, bored, missing my keyboard. So I rigged up a long fruit box on top of my desk, lifted my screens and started typing while standing up. My conscience had grown more and more restless and finally got the better of me. Was it my conscience, or was it the Holy Spirit? I believe it was the latter.   

Have you ever had to do everything standing up? Standing for hours, days, weeks? It’s hard (but also seems to burn more calories - yeah).  Yet somehow it helped me to collate, sort and group the biblical evidence, find a logical sequence of presenting it all, and finally design a cover everyone loved. In April this year, our little book finally went to the printer and became respectable.  We got great reviews from Dr. John Ecob (Editor of the Herald of Hope, Australia) and Dr. Gene Jeffries (Liberty University, USA), and a third of our print run has already flown the coop. 

But if God had not allowed all of my health problems – and I will be forever grateful for this time of drawing especially near to Him – I would still not have started writing our book. And without His constant prodding, I would not have finished it. Born out of pain, it now yields the glorious fruit of biblical evidence and takes the reader on a journey of discovering the greatest treasure they could ever find – the true identity of the Lord Jesus Christ; the biblical Jesus who died for our sins and who has the power to give eternal life. Was Jesus fully GOD and fully MAN? Does it matter? The answer to both questions is a definite YES! It matters because our salvation depends on it.   

You can download the free PDF eBook or purchase a print copy from http://www.biblicalpublications.org/the-lord-jesus-christ-fully-man-and-fully-god-ebook.html   

 

Margaret Lepke

Margaret enjoys being a wife, mother, grandmother and friend. But even more so she loves advancing the cause of Christ as  a mentor, speaker and writer. Her professional training includes natural medicine, counselling and mentoring, communication and human relations, research, adult education, theology and biblical studies. Margaret  blogs at Dr. Margaret's Treasure Chest and openly shares her testimony on her site www.DrLepke.com.au