Jim Cook has been my friend for forty-three years. What a delight and privilege it is to reflect on the seasons of our friendship! First we were students together. We met in the summer of 1952 at Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey. We both were candidates for a doctoral program there in New Testament studies, feverishly preparing for our comprehensive exams, the final gateway into graduate study. I was relieved to discover that he shared some of my fears and self-doubts. What if we had come all this way, laden with graduate fellowships, had studied all summer, and then flunked the exams? It was a daunting prospect. But, pooling our anxieties, we were able to give each other at least a measure of reassurance. Our principal mentor was Dr. Otto Piper, world-renowned German scholar. Each Friday afternoon, we graduate-school-hopefuls met for tea with Dr. and Mrs. Piper at their home. We were in awe of this great man-so learned, so profound, so gruffly mysterious. We were apprehensive each week lest he should ask us something beyond our depth. He always seemed to assume that we knew much more than we did. We shared puzzlement' at some of his allusions and mirth afterwards as we compared notes about our confusion. We shared relief that we had been able, at least partially, to mask our ignorance. And so we made our way through graduate study, surprised and grateful at each stage that we somehow got by. Next, we were pastors together. During that summer Jim began to preach at Reformed churches in the Princeton area. Before he was called to serve in a continuing way at the Blawenburg Reformed Church, he had ministered on several occasions at the Second Reformed Church in Lodi, New Jersey. When he asked if I would preach there in his place one weekend, I accepted, felt immediately attracted to the people in Lodi, and eventually became their pastor. Until that time, I had for all my twenty-four years belonged to Presbyterian churches, both north and south. Jim was my welcomer to the Reformed Church in America. ...