The Rest of the Story

by John Grant
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney
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“For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'”   So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. Romans 14:10-12

Christian DevotionsHe has been a household word for years and has often ridden with us as we drove our car. His name has been synonymous with moral and family values and he was one of the most trusted men in America. He was a household icon and had one of the nation’s most familiar and instantly recognizable voices and was credited with inventing or popularizing terms such as “skyjacker� and “Reaganomics.� He has been heard nationally since 1951 and been on the air since 1933.

I remember one day a number of years ago when out of the clear blue he called me and his voice over the phone sounded just like it did on the radio where one of his most often used quotes was “stand by for news.� He spoke to and estimated twenty four million listeners and was on 1200 radio stations. His regular column was carried by three hundred newspapers across America. He was the most listened to broadcaster in America and always ended with that homespun “good day.�

The voice of Paul Harvey was taken off the air forever just a short time ago when he died in Arizona at the age of ninety. He always stood for and spoke out on issues of patriotism and the responsibility. I remember one quote he made saying: “Our Bible tells us to pray without ceasing and now a handful of people and their lawyers are telling us to cease praying.�

Perhaps his most remembered footprint was when he told part of a story just long enough to set the hook and make you try to figure out how it would end, only to break for a commercial that seemed to last forever. And then when he returned. He would tell “the rest of the story,� and it with something totally different than what you had imagined.

Jesus had a similar form of teaching, like Harvey, often asking questions as he led people into a mental process of drawing their earthly answers and conclusions, only to answer an earthly question in spiritual terms. Paul the apostle, writing in Romans (Romans 14: 10-12), reminds us that Jesus will get the last word and He will tell us the rest of our story as we give our account to God.

Paul Harvey had that experience as he heard the real rest of the story. And, so will you and I for it is the appointment for every person to die and then the judgment. We will all have that experience, but the Bible tells us that how we live our lives and for whom we live our lives, determines what will be the script.
( a thought on life from John Grant )

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