A minister concluded that his church was getting into serious
financial troubles.
Coincidentally, by chance, while checking the church storeroom, he
discovered several cartons of new bibles that had never been
opened and distributed. So at his Sunday sermon, he asked for
three volunteers from the congregation who would be willing to
sell the bibles door-to-door for $10 each to raise the desperately
needed money for the church.
Peter, Paul and Louie all raised their
hands to volunteer for the task.
The reverend knew that Peter and Paul
earned their living as salesmen and were likely capable of selling
some bibles but he had serious doubts about Louie. Louie was just
a little local farmer, who had always tended to keep to himself
because he was embarrassed by his speech impediment. Poor little
Louis stuttered very badly. But, not wanting to discourage poor
Louis, the reverend decided to let him try anyway.
He sent the three of them away with the
back seat of their cars stacked with bibles and asked them to meet
with him and report the results of their door-to-door selling
efforts the following Sunday&which they did.
Anxious to find out how successful they
were, the reverend immediately asked Peter, "Well, Peter, how did
you make out selling our bibles last week?"
Proudly handing the reverend an envelope,
Peter replied, "Father, using my sales prowess, I was able to sell
20 bibles, and here's the 200 dollars I collected on behalf of the
church."
"Fine job, Peter!" The reverend said,
vigorously shaking his hand. "You are indeed a fine salesman and
the Church is indebted to you."
Turning to Paul, he asked "And Paul, how
many bibles did you manage to sell for the church last week?"
Paul, smiling and sticking out his chest,
confidently replied, "Reverend, I am a professional salesman and
was happy to give the church the benefit of my sales expertise.
Last week I sold 28 bibles on behalf of the church, and here's 280
dollars I collected." The reverend responded, "That's absolutely
splendid, Paul. You are truly a professional salesman and the
church is also indebted to you."
Apprehensively, the reverend turned to
little Louie and said, "And Louie, did you manage to sell any
bibles last week?"
Louie silently offered the reverend a
large envelope. The reverend opened it and counted the contents.
"What is this?" the reverend exclaimed. "Louie, there's 3200
dollars in here! Are you suggesting that you sold 320 bibles for
the church, door to door, in just one week? Louie just nodded.
That's impossible!" both Peter and Paul
said in unison. "We are professional salesmen, yet you claim to
have sold 10 times as many bibles as we could."
"Yes, this does seem unlikely," the
reverend agreed. "I think you'd better explain how you managed to
do accomplish this, Louie." Louie shrugged. "I-I-I- re-re-really
do-do-don't kn-kn-know f-f-f-for-sh-sh-sh-sure," he stammered.
Impatiently, Peter interrupted. "For
crying out loud, Louie, just tell us-what you said to them when
they answered the door!"-"A-a-a-all I-I-I s-s-said wa-wa-was,"
Louis replied, "W-w-w-w-would-y-y-y-you l-l-l-l-l-like t-t-to
b-b-b-buy th-th-th-this b-b-b-b-bible-f-f-for t-t-ten b-b-b-bucks
---o-o-o-or--- wo-wo-would yo-you j-j-j-just-l-like m-m-me t-t-to
st-st-stand h-h-here and r-r-r-r-r-read it t-to-y-y-you?
Submitted by Dr. Patty, Ringos, NJ.