RAPTURE
Do you know why the dead must rise first? Because they have farther to go.
—W. R. Riley
A man in Louisiana called to the attention of his non-Christian friend the word “Maranatha” on a bumper sticker. “What’s that mean?” “The Lord is coming.” “Ah, I don’t believe that!” “Well, He’s not coming for you.”
A woman lost her husband to death. She knew that she would see him again. And this assurance was confirmed when she returned home after the funeral. She found a sign that her husband had used: “Gone out, back soon.” That spoke to her of the fact of the rapture.
READING
Reading Christians are growing Christians. When Christians cease to read, they cease to grow.
—John Wesley
I cannot live without books.
—Thomas Jefferson
No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books.
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Happy is he who has laid up in his youth and held fast in all fortune, a genuine and passionate love for reading.
—Rufus Choate
The reading which counts is the reading which, in making a man think, stirs and exercises and polishes the edge of his mind.
—Leon Gutterman
At a dinner party in Paris when Benjamin Franklin was one of the distinguished guests, the Abbe Raynal asked, “What kind of man deserves the most pity?”
Franklin answered, “A lonesome man on a rainy day who does not know how to read.”
He who no longer reads should get out of the ministry.
—John Wesley
When you sell a man a book you don’t just sell him twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue—you sell him a whole new life.
—Christopher Morley
After three days without reading, talk becomes flavorless.
—Chinese proverb
Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.
—Joseph Addison
The only real use of books is to make a person think for himself. If a book will not set one to thinking, it is not worth shelf room.
—Aleph Bey
Resolve to edge in a little reading each day. If you gain but fifteen minutes a day, it will make itself felt at the end of the year.
—Horace Mann
REAL ESTATE
Unobstructed view: No trees.
Awaiting your imaginative touch: Sparse interior decor.
Handyman’s dream: Owner’s nightmare.
Central to everything: Noisy location.
Easy commuting: Remote from everything.
Country kitchen: No dining room.
Needs finishing touches: Needs roof.
All services available: Nothing hooked up.
On the paved road: Fronts on a major highway.
Secluded: No road in.
REASON
He who will not reason is a bigot.
He who cannot reason is a fool.
He who does not reason is a slave.
REBELLION
Louis Blanc, French socialist and historian, said shortly before his execution, “When I was an infant, I rebelled against my nurse. When I was a child, I rebelled against my teachers. When I was a young man, I rebelled against my mother and father. When I reached a mature age, I rebelled against the state. When I die, if there is a heaven and a God, I’ll rebel against them!”
RECONCILIATION
In one of his little books on the New Testament, A. M. Hunter describes the picture at Catterick Camp in Yorkshire, which shows a signaler lying dead in no-man’s land. He had been sent out to repair a cable which had been broken by shell fire. And there he lies, cold in death, but with his task accomplished, for in his stiffened hands he holds the broken ends together. Beneath the picture is the one word “Through.” So too, by his once-for-all death on Calvary, Christ has brought God and man together in reconciliation and fellowship. Moreover, by his living presence at God’s right hand, he lives to make that death a potent reality in every worshiper.
—John Wood
A husband and wife became estranged and decided to separate. They moved away and lived in different parts of the country. The husband happened to return to the city on business and went out to the cemetery to the grave of their only son. Standing by the grave he heard a step behind him. When he turned, he saw his estranged wife. The initial impulse of both was to turn away. But they had a common interest in that grave, and instead of turning away they clasped hands over the grave of their son and were reconciled. They were reconciled by death.
—Clarence E. Macartney
REDEMPTION
A woman phoned her bank to arrange for the disposal of a one-thousand-dollar bond.
“Is the bond for redemption or conversion?” a clerk inquired.
There was a long pause. Then the woman asked, “Am I talking to the First National Bank or the First Baptist Church?”
When Dr. Howard Kelley of Johns Hopkins University was going on a walk, he got rather thirsty. Seeing an old farmhouse, he went to the door and asked the girl who answered if her parents were home. She said no. He then asked if he could have a drink of water. She said she would have to pipe it uphill. She offered to let him come in and have some milk though. He did, and then went on his way. Weeks later he operated on a girl on the operating table and she was this same little girl.
The hospital and doctor’s bills soon came to the family and they had no idea how they could pay them. However, they looked down at the bottom of the bill and read these words: “Paid in full by two glasses of milk.”
REJECTION
In 1830 George Wilson was sentenced in Philadelphia to be hanged for murder. Andrew Jackson, the president, pardoned him, but when the jailer presented the pardon, Wilson refused it. The sheriff had to know whether Wilson should hang or not, so the matter came before the United States Supreme Court. No such point of law had ever been raised before.
Chief Justice Marshall gave the following decision: “A pardon is a paper, the value of which depends upon its acceptance by the person implicated. It is hardly to be supposed that one under sentence of death would refuse to accept a pardon, but if it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must hang.” And he was hanged.
He could not have been more than five, and he was a pathetic little figure as he carried a valise down the front steps of his home. Around the block he trudged, and around again. In fact, he kept walking around the block until it got dark and a policeman stopped him. “What’s the idea?” the officer asked. “Runnin’ away,” explained the boy sadly. “Look,” said the officer, “I’ve had my eye on you and you’ve been doing nothing but walking around the block. Do you call that running away?” “Well, what do you want me to do?” cried the boy tearfully. “I ain’t allowed to cross the street alone.”
And that is just what happened when Adam fell. Ever since then mankind has been running away—but God has arranged it so that man cannot run from his fears; man cannot run away from his frustrations; man cannot run away from sin and its fruits; man cannot run away from death; man cannot run away from himself. There is only one refuge—the cross.
RELATIONSHIPS
Three men were marooned on an island. Suddenly a genie appeared and said, “What would you like to have? Any wish is yours.”
One man said, “I miss my family in L.A.” Whoosh—and he was gone. Another said, “I miss by brokerage in Boston. I wish I were back at my desk. I wish I were at work.” Whoosh—and he was gone.
Then the third man said, “I’m lonely. I wish my friends were back here.”
RELATIVES
Friends are always welcome; relatives are by appointment only.
RELIGIONS
Projected: If the world were a town of 1,000 people it would include 564 Asians, 210 Europeans, 86 Africans, 80 South Americans, and 60 North Americans. Its religions: 300 Christians, 175 Muslims, 128 Hindus, 55 Buddhists, and 47 animists, according to Development Innovations and Networks.
—Pulse
REMEMBERING
Always remember to forget,
The things that made you sad.
But never forget to remember
The things that made you glad.
Always remember to forget
The friends that proved untrue.
But don’t forget to remember
Those that have stuck by you.
Always remember to forget
The troubles that passed away.
But never forget to remember
The blessings that come each day.
REPENTANCE
A Sunday school teacher asked a class what the word “repentance” means. A little boy put up his hand and said, “It is being sorry for your sins.” A little girl also raised her hand and said, “It is being sorry enough to quit.”
A schoolgirl was saved and someone asked her, “What were you before?” She said, “A sinner.” The she was asked, “What are you now?” She answered, “A sinner.” They asked, “What’s the difference?”
She answered, “I was a sinner running after sin. But now I’m a sinner running from sin.”
REPUTATION
The easiest thing to get, but the most difficult thing to get rid of, is a bad reputation.
—Teen Esteem
Reputation is precious, but character is priceless.
RESENTMENT
A visitor, leaning on a fence, was watching an old farmer plowing with a mule which didn’t seem to know which way to go. The visitor commented, “I hope you don’t think I’m telling you how to run your business, but you could save yourself a lot of time and energy if you’d say ‘Giddyap’ and ‘Whoa’ to your mule instead of just pulling and tugging on those reins.”
The farmer, drawing a hankie from his pocket and wiping his forehead, answered, “You’re right. But this animal stepped on my toe five years ago, and I haven’t spoken to him since.”
—Leslie B. Flynn
RESOLUTIONS
Resolved, never to do anything which I would be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life.
—Jonathan Edwards