Friend’s Letter
March 2026

Dear Friend,

For those of us who live in the cold Midwest we welcome this month because it allows us to hope for Spring again. Our winter has been very cold, to put it mildly, but we are now seeing real signs of a warming trend.

March reminds me of God’s grace in the gift of my seventy-seven years of life. (My birthday was Sunday, March 1.) It also reminds me that eleven years ago I was recovering from a major seven-hour heart operation that repaired all five of my arteries. This prompted me to retire from leading the mission I began in 1991. March is also the month in which my book, The Transforming Fire of Divine Love, was released in 2025. Of all that I have written over the last thirty-five years this is, at least in my view, the most important book of them all. I desire that you, and many of your friends, read this book. To celebrate this eventful month in my life I have asked my publisher to run a special on my book for March. You can get it at a 40% discount this month at https://wipfandstock.com. Select the ‘add coupon’ button in your shopping cart and then enter FIRE to receive 40% off. Please consider ordering at least two copies and then give one to a friend.

At the beginning of this year I embarked upon a careful reading of the Epistle to the Hebrews. I realized that I had never done a “deep dive” into this letter and it was past time to do so. I have not been disappointed by giving my mind and heart to this reading. Two simple and powerful impressions have struck me in my early reading of the first seven chapters.

First, the presence and role of the angels, especially in our public worship, has struck home. When we enter into the sanctuary on high the angels attend to us and our worship. I have to wonder how many Christians know this truth. I confess that I did not consider the role of the angels for a long time because of the raft of bestselling books on angels had turned me off. But I was wrong. The important role that angels have in the worship of God is beyond doubt in Hebrews.

Second, the fact that the angels are mediators between us and God is central to this letter’s argument. But here is the important point – Jesus is a better mediator than Levi, the angels and even Melchizedek, who was both a king and a priest. He is a king and priest who serves in the better sanctuary (cf. 8:2, 5; 9:11-12, 24) on high, in God’s full presence. He is “more highly exalted in the heavens” (7:26).

At my age you really do ask the Lord to teach you to number your days. I obviously do not know the hour of my death but I know the one who is my shepherd and I trust him with each day. I know that what lies beyond death is better than anything we can ask or imagine.

Pax Christi,

John
Prayer Requests and News

1. We continue to need your prayer support for our daughter and our twin grandsons.
2. Pray for my daily support of pastors and friends. I am not able to travel to see friends out of the Chicago area as I once did but this does not mean I have lost touch. My Chicago area friends share coffee and/or lunch with me often.
3. Pray for my dear friend Scott Brill, and the Council of The Initiative. Sign up for news from Scott and the mission at www.theinitiative.com. Scott is doing an excellent job in this role.

Books I’ve Been Reading

1. Chasing the Wind: A Pastor’s Life (2022), Douglas J. Brouwer (Eerdmans). Doug pastored the First Presbyterian Church of Wheaton from 1989 until 2003. Oddly enough we did not meet until he was back in the area in late 2025. He gave me his book and I loved it. I recommend it to pastors, especially if you serve in a mainline church. It is a wise and insightful memoir that will help me in my own writing of such a book.
2. The Soul of America: Recovering the Wisdom of the Founders (2002), Jacob Needleman. I have long had mixed feelings about how to express a proper form of patriotism and love of country. This amazing book opened may eyes in a way nothing previously has done for me. No white-washing here, just good philosophical insights combined with a proper love of country. I now believe that we have tragically lost the “soul” of our nation.
3. We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration (2025), Frank Abe and Tamiko Nimura (2025). This book was discovered by Anita after seeing an interview about it. It is history in the written style of a graphic novel. Clearly the way we have rounded up people and placed them in cages and barracks inside camps is not new. What is new is how many more people we are putting in these camps today. May God have mercy on us as a nation that treats people in this manner. It seems we did not learn from the mistakes we made in the 1940s.