Rest for the Weary by Vance Havner

It has been a long time since my boyhood days in the country. My ministry has required living much on trains, in hotels, in crowded cities. I have escaped from the bedlam at every opportunity and have endeavored to find time and make a place to express that love of the outdoors which has meant so much to me in body, mind, and spirit. I have compromised on a city park when country woods were not available. I have resorted to various devices in order to be still and rest awhile. This modern age has conspired to steal from the soul of man the spirit of reflection and contemplation. One must put up a never-ceasing fight to maintain as much of it as possible in the modern madhouse miscalled “progress.” There is encouragement for such a spirit in the Bible. There was much of it in the life of our Lord. It is a note almost forgotten, and we are paying a high price for our neglect. May these meditations help some harassed soul, some sheep in the hounded flock, to find balm in Gilead and rest for the weary. —From the Foreword

Vance Havner (1901-1986) was a unique servant of God whose spoken ministry spanned over seventy years and whose written ministry extended to almost forty books. Michael Catt, Pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia, says of him: "There was no one like Vance Havner. His preaching style was unique, powerful, and pointed. He was a master at turning a phrase, using humor to set up a point, and then driving the point home like a sharp, two-edged sword. Every Christian should read Vance Havner… If you love A. W. Tozer, you'll love Vance Havner. He was one of God's gifts to the church in the 20th century. His ministry and his preaching needs to be heard in the 21st century."