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 From
Joe Creason, Kentucky columnist for the Louisville Courier—Journal,
we glean some prayer stories.
Two
nuns who followed their favorite basketball team to the big
city, were appalled by the heavy traffic. One said, “You
drive, and I’ll pray.”
But
the other responded, “What’s the matter; don’t you trust
my praying?”
And
I liked the one about the old mountain man who prayed, “Lord,
I don’t ask for a faith that would move yonder mountain. I can
take enough dynamite and move it if it needs moving. What I pray
for, Lord, is enough faith to move me.”
Have
you noticed that a large percentage of the humorous stories with
religious circumstances have to do with prayer, baptism, etc.? I
suppose this is because of the incongruity of the situation —
something “out of place” in what should be a sober and
serious matter. We may censure the boorish person who, with
disrespect, “makes fun” of sacred things; and yet appreciate
the “true-to-life” incidents that inject a smile into a
situation, without being frivolous.
Sometimes
we may “catch” ourselves in the midst of laughter and, with
reflection,
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realize that what is “funny” to the
outsider may be seriously meaningful to the participant. I once
heard a farmer pray, “Lord, shuck and silk us of our sins!”
The strange and humorous wording, to a city man, was meaningful
and sincere to those who had cleaned many a “roasting-ear”.
Fortunately,
we fully believe that God understands the hearts of both poor
and exact grammarians. Consider the petition, “God, bless all
who are sick of this congregation!” Well, the sick need our
prayers — and perhaps those “sick of this congregation”
are even more in need of assistance. None are so ill as those
who “run a fever” in their caustic attack upon others.
And
there’s the story of the nervous woman in an airplane, who, on
being caught in a thunderstorm, turned for aid and comfort to a
preacher who happened to be sitting in the seat next to hers.
“Can’t
you do something?” she demanded forcefully.
“Sorry,
madam,” he replied gently. “I’m in sales, not management.”
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