The minister, decided to do something a little different one Sunday morning.
He said ‘Today, in church, I am going to say a single word and you are going to help me preach.
Whatever single word I say, I want you to sing whatever hymn that comes to your mind’ the pastor shouted out ‘CROSS.’
Immediately the congregation started singing in unison, ‘THE OLD RUGGED CROSS.’
The pastor hollered out ‘GRACE.’ The congregation began to sing ‘AMAZING GRACE, how sweet the sound.’
The pastor said ‘POWER.’ The congregation sang ‘THERE IS POWER IN THE BLOOD.’
The Pastor said ‘S*X’ The congregation fell into total silence.
Everyone was in shock. They all nervously began to look around at each other afraid to say anything.
Then all of a sudden, way from in the back of the church, a little old 87 year old grandmother stood up and began to sing ‘MEMORIES.’
A young boy had just gotten his driving permit.
He asked his father, who was a minister, if they could discuss his use of the family car.
His father said to him, “I’ll make a deal with you. You bring your grades up, study your bible a little, and get your hair cut, then we will talk about it.”
A month later the boy came back and again asked his father if they could discuss his use of the car.
His father said, “Son, I’m real proud of you. You have brought your grades up, you’ve studied your bible diligently, but you didn’t get a hair cut!”
The young man waited a moment and replied, “You know dad, I’ve been thinking about that. You know Samson had long hair, Moses had long hair, Noah had long hair, and even Jesus had long hair.”
His father replied, “Yes son, and they walked everywhere they went!”
While working on a message the pastor heard a knock at his office door.
“Come in,” he invited.
A contrite-looking man in threadbare clothes came in, pulling a goat on a rope, “Can I talk to you for a minute?” asked the man with his hat in his hand.
Wordlessly, the pastor indicated the chair and the man sat down in it gingerly. The goat proceeded to sniff around the office.
With one eye on the animal and one on the man, the pastor folded his hands on his desk and leaned forward, curious to hear the fellow’s story, “What can I do for you?”
“My family is hungry,” started the man. “So I stole this goat. But I feel that I have sinned. Would you please take it?”
“Certainly not,” said the minister.
“Then what should I do with it?” asked the man.
“Give it back to the man you stole it from, of course!” the pastor explained.
“I offered it to him, but he refused to take it. Now what should I do?”
“In that case,” the minister said, “It would be all right for you to keep it and feed your family.”
That seemed to settle things as far as the man was concerned.
“Thank you for your help, sir.”
With a lighter step, he walked out of the office, leading the goat on the rope behind him.
Later that afternoon when the minister returned home, he said to his wife as he walked in, “I have got a story to tell you.”
“I have something to tell you first,” she exclaimed. “Someone has stolen your goat!”
