I want to tell you a story about when I was a young boy going to school. You know, I didn’t mind school too much, but in those days I was very envious of the school Captain. His name was Renton, and he sat just across the aisle from me.

He was the best soccer player in the school and that’s what I wanted to be. He was the best at cricket, and I liked cricket. He was the best runner we had, and I liked running. He was not only an excellent athlete, but a very good artist as well. And on top of all that, he was the smartest guy in the whole school.

If I could ever save up my stomach-aches, I’d save them until the day before the final exam. But my mother was smart. She knew I was saving them up. I don’t know how she knew, but she always did. I’d get up that morning and say, “Oh mother, I don’t feel good at all. I think I should stay home today.”

But she’d always say, “You can stay home ‘tomorrow’ – but not today.” But staying home tomorrow wouldn’t do me any good because ‘today’ was the day of the final exam. ‘Today’ was the day of judgment!

I know Renton never felt like that because whenever we had a test, as soon as the questions were put down on the board, he would get his paper and dash through them. He was through the first two or three subjects before I’d even gotten the thing read.

He and another fellow used to say, “Oh boy, exams! They knew they’d be first and second in the class when the grades came out, and so they were excited about taking the test.

Final exams didn’t scare them. These boys were always at the top. They were not afraid of the Day of Judgment. They were not afraid – because they were ‘prepared for it.’

– Leonard Ravenhill