remember stopping for a long time at Genesis 29:20, “Jacob worked seven years for [the privilege of marrying] Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the greatness of his love.” Nothing I had ever read explained better how I might approach the long years of seminary preparation for the service of Christ. When I entered formal theological studies in Rome, I had to learn Italian; and so I read a history of Israel in that language. I had always loved history, and this book (although