When James A. Garfield, who afterward became President of the United States, was president of Hiram College, in Ohio, a man brought his son for entrance as a student, for whom he desired a shorter course than the regular one. “The boy will never take all that in,” the father said. “He wants to get through by a shorter route. Can you arrange it?”

“Oh, yes,” replied the president of Hiram College. “I can arrange for it. Your son can take the shorter course. It all depends on what you want to make of him. When God wants to make an oak, He takes a hundred years; but when He wants to make a squash, he requires only two months.”

QUOTE

If I finish reading a Bible book one morning, but the next day immediately return to the beginning and re-read it, that book seems open to me like never before. Outline and patterns and names and themes and lists seem exposed, like a path in the woods after the trees have dropped their leaves.

Of course it’s one thing, after finishing Philippians, to jump right back in. It takes a real battle of wills to reread Ezekiel after camping outside its walls for two weeks. But God’s Spirit makes it worthwhile - the second time around.

Preaching to God’s Little Ones, p. 2
January/February 2005. Preach the Word, Vol. 8, No. 3

The psychiatrist was interviewing a first-time patient. “You say you’re here,” he inquired, “because your family is worried about your taste in socks?”

“That’s correct,” muttered the patient. “I like wool socks.”

“But that’s perfectly normal,” replied the doctor. “Many people prefer wool socks to those made from cotton or acrylic. In fact, I myself like wool socks.”

“You DO?” exclaimed the man. “With oil and vinegar or just a squeeze of lemon?”

Anonymous

Comment: Wearing socks is okay, but eating them is not. Reading God’s Word is proper, but unlike socks, we should also 'consume' what it has to say.

The Texas legislature once passed a resolution honoring the Boston Strangler. In 1971, Rep. Tom Moore, Jr. of Waco wanted to demonstrate that his fellow legislators in the Texas House of Representatives often passed bills and resolutions without fully reading or understanding them. So, he sponsored a resolution commending Albert de Salvo for his unselfish service to “his county, his state and his community.” It read, in part:

“This compassionate gentleman’s dedication and devotion to his work has enabled the weak and the lonely throughout the nation to achieve and maintain a new degree of concern for their future. He has been officially recognized by the state of Massachusetts for his noted activities and unconventional techniques involving population control and applied psychology.”

The joke, of course, was that Albert de Salvo was more commonly known as the Boston Strangler, responsible for the murders of thirteen women in the Boston area between 1962 and 1964.

As he expected, Moore saw his resolution passed unanimously; he then withdrew it and explained that he had only offered the motion to demonstrate a point.

snopes.com

Comment: God doesn't offer us the Bible, so that we simply nod our head and say, "Whatever you say God." He wants us to grow familiar with his Word, and to endorse it with out heart... to live by it... to say, "Amen!" when we hear the joyous news of our Savior.

ARTICLE / QUOTE

Did you know that it takes 66 hours and 58 minutes to read aloud the entire Bible from Genesis through Revelation? Don Taggert, a pastor of the Bethlehem Free Will Baptist Church in Pontotoc, Miss., along with eight young volunteers read a King James Version (1,834 pages) to discover this truth.

For the sake of discussion, let’s say it took them 67 hours. The Lord has given each of us 168 hours each week. We could, if we were so inclined, read the entire Bible in one week’s time, work a 40-hour week, sleep eight hours each night, and still have five hours left over.

The Bible is the vehicle of God’s grace by which he would make and keep us as his own, a vehicle through which he brings life to light. Graciously, he has also given time to use it.

66 Hours, 58 Minutes, p. 27
December 2004. Forward in Christ, Vol. 91, No. 12
Adapted from: Heins, Ronald. 66 Hours, 58 Minutes
April 16, 1978. The Northwestern Lutheran

Comment: Don't we deny that we have enough time?