Joke: Mormon and God

In 1875 a Danish couple converted to become Mormons and moved to Cache Valley Utah. They set up a farm in Rural Providence, Utah, and were self sufficient for a couple of years. By the third year, the husband decided to take a second wife, as Mormons of the time did. His wife was not too keen on the idea, so he convinced a
Swedish neighbor to help in a plan to convince her.

"Let us go to the barn, and pray for guidance on this major decision", said the husband. Whatever God tells us, that's what we'll do".

They went to the barn, got on their knees, and old farmer Madsen started with the usual openings to Mormon prayers. After a few minutes of this, he posed the question: "heavenly father, should I take another wife?"

Farmer Olson was in the rafters, as previously arranged, and in the most booming, deep voice he could muster, said, "Brother Madsen, I command thee to take another wife". After a moment, farmer Madsen looked over to his wife, and saw that she was sobbing uncontrollably. He put his arm around her, and said, "There there, a second wife will be an addition to the family, but she will never be a replacement for you. I'll still love you just as much."

Mrs. Madsen said, "I have no problem with you taking a second wife, I've been resigned to that for a year now. But in my worst nightmare, I NEVER imagined that God was a Swede!"

Humor: Children and god

These questions were reportedly asked by elementary children and appeared in a newspaper article.

Dear God: Why did you make people talk foreign languages? It would be easier if everybody could talk English like you and me.

Dear God: If you made the sun and the moon and the stars you must have had lots of equipment.

Dear God: Instead of letting people die and having to make new ones why don't you just keep the ones you have now?

Dear God: How come you only have 10 rules and our school has millions?

Dear God: When you made the first man did he work as good as we do now?

Dear God: There were no clouds Saturday so I think I saw your feet. Did I really?

Dear God: I know there's a God because I go to His house on Sunday and see all the cars parked there.

Dear God: Where does yesterday go? Do you have it?

Dear God: I'm afraid of things at night more than in the day. So if you could keep the sun on longer that would be a good thing.

Faith story - Spider web and brick wall

During World War II, a U.S. Marine was seperated from his unit on a Pacific island.  The fighting had been intense, and in the smoke and the crossfire , he had lost touch with his comrades.

Alone in jungle, he could hear enemy soldiers coming in his direction.  Scrambling for cover, he found his way up a high ridge to several small caves in the rock.  He quickly crawled inside one of the caves.  Although safe for the moment, he realized that once the enemy soldiers looking for him swept the ridge, they would methodically search all the caves, and he would be discovered and killed.

As he waited, he prayed, "Lord, if it be your will, please protect me.  Whatever Your will, though, I love and trust You.  Amen."

After praying, he lay quietly listening to the enemy begin to draw closer.  He thought, "Well, I guess the Lord isn't going to help me out of this one."  Then he saw a spider begin to build a web over the front of his cave.

As he watched the spider layering strand after strand of web across the opening to the cave, he thought, "Hah!  What I need is a brick wall and what the Lord has sent me is a spider web.  God does have a sense of humor."

As the enemy drew closer, he watched from the darkness of his hideout and could see them searching one cave after another.  As they came to his, he got ready to make his last stand.  To his amazement, after glancing in the direction of the cave, they moved on.  Suddenly, he realized that with the spider web over the entrance, his cave looked as if no one had entered for quite a  while.

"Lord, forgive me," prayed the young man.  "I had forgotten that in You a spider's web is stronger than a brick wall."

We all face times of great trouble.  When we do, it is so easy to forget that God can work in our lives, sometimes in the most surprising ways.

Funny: God created animals

A newly discovered chapter in the Book of Genesis has provided the answer to "Where do pets come from?"

Adam and Eve said, "Lord, when we were in the garden, you walked with us every day. Now we do not see you anymore. We are lonesome here and it is difficult for us to remember how much you love us."

And God said, "No problem! I will create a companion for you that will be with you forever and who will be a reflection of my love for you, so that you will love me even when you cannot see me. Regardless of how selfish or childish or unlovable you may be, this new companion will accept you as you are and will love you as I do, in spite of yourselves."

And God created a new animal to be a companion for Adam and Eve.
And it was a good animal.
And God was pleased.
And the new animal was pleased to be with Adam and Eve and he wagged his tail.

And Adam said, "Lord, I have already named all the animals in the Kingdom and I cannot think of a name for this new animal."

And God said, "No problem. Because I have created this new animal to be a reflection of my love for you, his name will be a reflection of my own name, and you will call him DOG."

And Dog lived with Adam and Eve and was a companion to them and loved them.
And they were comforted.
And God was pleased.
And dog was content and wagged his tail.

After a while, it came to pass that an angel came to the Lord and said, "Lord, Adam and Eve have become filled with pride. They strut and preen like peacocks and they believe they are worthy of adoration. Dog has indeed taught them that they are loved, but perhaps too well."

And God said, "No problem! I will create for them a companion who will be with them forever and who will see them as they are. The companion will remind them of their limitations, so they will know that they are not always worthy of adoration."

And God created CAT to be a companion to Adam and Eve.
And Cat would not obey them.
And when Adam and Eve gazed into Cat's eyes, they were reminded that they were not the supreme beings.
And Adam and Eve learned humility.

And they were greatly improved.
And God was pleased.
And Dog wagged his tail.

And Cat didn't care one way or the other.

Joke: Children and patience

To those of us who have children in our lives, whether they are our own, grandchildren, nieces, or nephews... here is something to make you chuckle.

Whenever your children are out of control, you can take comfort from the thought that even God's omnipotence did not extend to His own children. After creating Heaven and Earth, God created Adam and Eve. And the first thing he said was "DON'T!"

"Don't what?" Adam replied.

"Don't eat the forbidden fruit," God said.

"Forbidden fruit? We have forbidden fruit? Hey Eve... we have forbidden fruit!!"

"No way!"

"Yes way!"

"Do NOT eat the fruit!" said God.

"Why?"

"Because I am your Father and I said so!" God replied, wondering why He hadn't stopped creation after making the elephants. A few minutes later, God saw His children having an apple break and He was ticked!

"Didn't I tell you not to eat the fruit?" God asked.

"Uh huh," Adam replied.

"Then why did you?" said the Father.

"I don't know," said Eve.

"She started it!" Adam said.

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"DID NOT!"

Having had it with the two of them, God's punishment was that Adam and Eve should have children of their own. Thus the pattern was set and it has never changed.

BUT THERE IS REASSURANCE IN THE STORY!

If you have persistently and lovingly tried to give children wisdom and they haven't taken it, don't be hard on yourself. If God had trouble raising children, what makes you think it would be a piece of cake for you?

Joke: The argument between the rabbis and god's intervention

It seems that these four rabbis had a series of theological
arguments, and three were always in accord against the
fourth.

One day, the odd rabbi out, after the usual "3 to 1,
majority rules" statement that signified that he had lost
again, decided to appeal to a higher authority.

"Oh, God!" he cried. "I know in my heart that I am right
and they are wrong! Please give me a sign to prove it to
them!"

It was a beautiful, sunny day, but as soon as the rabbi
finished his prayer, a storm cloud moved across the sky
above the four. It rumbled once and dissolved. "A sign from
God! See, I'm right, I knew it!"

But the other three disagreed, pointing out that storm
clouds form on hot days. So the rabbi prayed again "Oh, God,
I need a bigger sign to show that I am right and they are
wrong!"

This time four storm clouds appeared, rushed toward each
other to form one big cloud, and a bolt of lightning slammed
into a tree on a nearby hill.

"I told you I was right!" cried the rabbi, but his friends
insisted that nothing had happened that could not be
explained by natural causes. The rabbi was getting ready to
ask for a *very big* sign, but just as he said, "Oh God...,"
the sky turned pitch black, the earth shook, and a deep,
booming voice intoned, "HEEEEEEEE'S RIIIIIIIGHT!"

The rabbi put his hands on his hips, turned to the other
three, and said, "Well?"

"So," shrugged one of the other rabbis, "now it's 3 to 2."

Joke: Professional Help, sent by god

A woman was at work when she received a phone call that her daughter was very sick with a fever.

She left her work and stopped by the pharmacy to get some medication. She got back to her car and found that she had locked her keys in the car.

She didn't know what to do, so she called home and told the baby sitter what had happened.

The baby sitter told her that the fever was getting worse. She said, "You might find a coat hanger and use that to open the door."

The woman looked around and found an old rusty coat hanger that had been left on the ground, possibly by someone else who at some time had locked their keys in their car. She looked at the hanger and said, "I don't know how to use this."

She bowed her head and asked God to send her help.

Within five minutes a beat up old motorcycle pulled up, with a dirty, greasy, bearded man who was wearing an old biker skull rag on his head.

The woman thought, "This is what you sent to help me?" But, she was desperate, so she was also very thankful.

The man got off of his cycle and asked if he could help.

She said, "Yes, my daughter is very sick. I stopped to get her some medication and I locked my keys in my car. I must get home to her. Please, can you use this hanger to unlock my car?"

He said, "Sure." He walked over to the car, and in less than a minute the car was opened.

She hugged the man and through her tears she said, "Thank You So Much! You are a very nice man."

The man replied, "Lady, I am not a nice man. I just got out of prison today. I was in prison for car theft and have only been out for about an hour."

The woman hugged the man again and with sobbing tears cried out loud, "Oh, Thank you God! You even sent me a Professional."

Joke: PRAYERS

In a small town, a person decided to open up a brothel, which was right opposite to a church. The church & its congregation started a campaign to block the brothel from opening with petitions and prayed daily against his business.

Work progressed. However, when it was almost complete and was about to open a few days later, a strong lightning struck the brothel and it was burnt to the ground.

The church folks were rather smug in their outlook after that, till the brothel owner sued the church authorities on the grounds that the church through its congregation & prayers was ultimately responsible for the destruction of his brothel, either through direct or indirect actions or means.

In its reply to the court, the church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection that their prayers were reasons for the act of God.

As the case made its way into court, the judge looked over the paperwork at the hearing and commented:

'I don't know how I'm going to decide this case, but it appears from the paperwork, we have a brothel owner who believes in the power of prayer and we have an entire church that doesn't.'

One tree destroys home, another warns

In huge storms, the speed of wind is many times enough to blow down trees; in many case, these falling trees cause a lot of damage - they can destroy vehicles on which they fall, they can break down large sections of houses if they fall on the house. What happens when a person is inside the house when a tree falls on the house ? Nothing good happens; in some cases, the result can be fatal. However, would you believe that a falling tree actually saved a person from another such falling tree ? Read on (link to article):

Kiefer was sitting on his sofa Monday morning while a brief but intense windstorm blew through the Atlanta, Georgia, area, including Decatur. He heard a tree crash in his backyard and got up to investigate. That tree knocked down a chain-link fence, and Kiefer was getting worried about several other large backyard trees that were swaying in the wind.
"Couple of hours ago my knees where shaking pretty good," he admitted. But, he said, God was looking out for him. "Actually, he saved my life," Kiefer said. "When I came outside to investigate that noise, that was my warning to get up off that couch. And then, not to go back in the house when it got real windy, but to stand right there where that tree stopped. There are no coincidences."

To be in such a life threatening moment, and then realize that you are saved due to some act of providence is enough to bring back the belief in a god or guardian angel looking out for you.

Majority Rules

It seems that these four rabbis had a series of theological arguments, and three were always in accord against the fourth.

One day, the odd rabbi out, after the usual "3 to 1, majority rules" statement that signified that he had lost again, decided to appeal to a higher authority. "Oh, God!" he cried. "I know in my heart that I am right and they are wrong! Please give me a sign to prove it to them!"

It was a beautiful, sunny day, but as soon as the rabbi finished his prayer, a storm cloud moved across the sky above the four. It rumbled once and dissolved. "A sign from God! See, I'm right, I knew it!"

But the other three disagreed, pointing out that storm clouds form on hot days. So the rabbi prayed again: "Oh, God, I need a bigger sign to show that I am right and they are wrong!"

This time four storm clouds appeared, rushed toward each other to form one big cloud, and a bolt of lightning slammed into a tree on a nearby hill. "I told you I was right!" cried the rabbi, but his friends insisted that nothing had happened that could not be explained by natural causes.

The rabbi was getting ready to ask for a *very big* sign, but just as he said, "Oh God...," the sky turned pitch black, the earth shook, and a deep, booming voice intoned, "HE'S RIGHT!"

The rabbi put his hands on his hips, turned to the other three, and said, "Well?"

"So," shrugged one of the other rabbis, "now it's 3 to 2."

Always wanted a girl

A very spiritual, devout and holy priest dies and is immediately swept up to heaven.
St. Peter greets him at the Pearly Gates, and says, "Hello, Father, we've been waiting for you for a long time. Welcome to Heaven! You are very well known here, and as a special reward, because you are such a spiritual and holy man, we're going to
grant you anything you wish even before we enter Heaven. What can I grant you?"

"Well", the priest says, "I've always been a great admirer of the Virgin Mother. I've always wanted to ask her a question." St. Peter waves his hand, and lo and behold who should approach the priest but the Virgin Mary !

The priest is beside himself, but manages to kneel and say, "Mother, I have always been a great admirer of yours, and have studied everything I could about you and followed your holy life as best I could. I have studied every painting and portrait ever made of you holding the Christ Child, and I've noticed that you are always portrayed with a slightly sad look on your face. I have always, always wondered what it was that made you sad. Would you please tell me?"

"Well", says Mother Mary, "to tell the truth, at that time I was really hoping for a girl."

Stormy Weather

A boy walked to and from school daily. On one particular morning, the weather was questionable as clouds were forming and the sky was grey, but the boy made his daily trek to the elementary school anyway.

As the afternoon progressed, the winds whipped up and the thunder and lightning began to roll. The boy's mother was concerned that her son would be frightened as he walked home from school and feared that the electrical storm might harm her child.

Worried, the mother got into her car and drove along the route to her child's school. Upon finding her son, she noticed her boy was walking along just fine, but at each flash of lightning, the child would stop, look up and smile. More lightning followed and with each one the boy would look at the streak of light and smile.

Puzzled, the mother approached him in her car, lowered the window and asked him, "What are you doing?"

The child answered, "I am trying to look nice; God keeps taking my picture."

The pastor's son

The Pastor's Son

Every Sunday afternoon, after the morning service at their church, the pastor and his eleven year-old son would go out into their town and hand out Gospel Tracts.
This particular Sunday afternoon, as it came time for the pastor and his son to go to the streets with their tracts, it was very cold outside as well as pouring down rain. The boy bundled up in his warmest and driest clothes and said, "Okay, Dad; I'm ready."
His pastor dad asked, "Ready for what?"
"Dad, it's time we gather our tracts together and go out."
Dad responded, "Son, it's very cold outside and it's pouring down rain."
The boy gave his dad a surprised look asking, "But, Dad, aren't people still going to Hell even though it's raining?" Dad answered, "Son, I am not going out in this weather."
Despondently, the boy asked, "Dad, can I go? Please?"
His father hesitated for a moment then said, "Son, you can go. Here are the tracts, but be careful." "Thanks, Dad!" And with that, he was off and out into the rain. This eleven year-old boy walked the streets of the town going door to door and handing everybody he met in the street a Gospel Tract.
After two hours of walking in the rain, he was soaking, bone-chilled wet and down to his very last tract. He stopped on a corner and looked for someone to hand his last tract to, but the streets were totally deserted.
Then he turned toward the first home he saw and started up the sidewalk to the front door and rang the doorbell. He rang it again and again, but still no one answered. He continued to wait for a while - still no answer.
Finally, this eleven year-old trooper turned to leave, but something stopped him. Again, he turned to the door and rang the bell and knocked loudly on the door with his fist. He waited - something was holding him there on the front porch. He rang again and this time the door slowly opened.
Standing in the doorway was a very sad-looking elderly lady. She softly asked, "What can I do for you, son?" With radiant eyes and a smile that lit up her world, this little boy said, "Ma'am, I'm sorry if I disturbed you, but I just want to tell you that Jesus really does love you, and I came to give you my very last Gospel Tract which will tell you all about Jesus and His great love."
With that, he handed her his last tract and turned to leave. She called to him as he departed. "Thank you, son! And God bless you!" Well, the following Sunday morning in church, Pastor Dad was in the pulpit. As the service began, he asked, "Does anybody have a testimony or want to say anything?"
Slowly, in the back row of the church, an elderly lady stood to her feet. As she began to speak, a look of glorious radiance came from her face as she said, "No one in this church knows me. I've never been here before. You see, before last Sunday, I was not a Christian. My husband passed on some time ago, leaving me totally alone in this world. Last Sunday, being a particularly cold and rainy day, it was even more so in my heart that I came to the end of the line where I no longer had any hope or will to live. So I took a rope and a chair and ascended the stairway into the attic of my home. I fastened the rope securely to a rafter in the roof, then I stood on the chair, lonely and brokenhearted. I was about to leap off, when suddenly the loud ringing of my doorbell downstairs startled me.
"I thought, 'I'll wait a minute and whoever it is will go away.' I waited and waited, but the ringing doorbell seemed to get louder and more insistent. And the the person ringing also started knocking loudly! I thought to myself again, 'Who on earth could this be? Nobody ever rings my bell or comes to see me.' I loosened the rope from my neck and started for the front door, all the while the bell rang louder and louder.
"When I opened the door and looked, I could hardly believe my eyes, for there on my front porch was the most radiant and angelic little boy I had ever seen in my life! His smile, oh, I could never describe it to you! And the words that came from his mouth caused my heart, that had long been dead, to leap to life as he exclaimed with a cherub-like voice, 'Ma'am, I just came to tell you that Jesus really does love you.' Then he gave me this Gospel Tract that I now hold in my hand. As the little angel disappeared back out into the cold and rain, I closed my door and read every word in this tract. Then I went up to my attic to get my rope and chair; I wouldn't be needing them anymore.
"You see, I am now a happy child of God and since the address of your church was on the back of this tract, I have come here to personally say, 'Thank you,' to the little angel who came just in the nick of time and by doing so, spared my soul from an eternity in Hell."
There wasn't a dry eye in the church, and as shouts of praise and honor to the King resounded off the very rafters of the building. Pastor Dad descended from the pulpit to the front pew where the little angel was seated. He took his son in his arms and sobbed uncontrollably.
Probably no church has had a more glorious moment and probably this universe has never seen a father that was more filled with love and honor for his son - except for One. This Father also allowed His Son to go out into a cold and dark world.

Ol' Mrs. Murphy

The Catholic Church's air conditioning broke down, so they had to hire a man to crawl around in the ducts and figure out what was wrong.

As the man peeked down through one of the vents in the sanctuary, he saw little old Mrs. Murphy kneeling by the altar, apparently saying her rosary. The man thought it would be funny to try and mess with the lady's mind.

In his best authoritative voice, he said, "This is Jesus. Your prayers will be answered."

The little old lady didn't even blink, just kept on saying her prayers. The man decided maybe she didn't hear him, and tried again. "This is Jesus, the Son of God! Your prayers will be answered!"

Again, she didn't react at all. Mustering up a big breath of air, the man decided to try again. "THIS IS JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD! YOUR PRAYERS WILL BE ANSWERED!"

The lady looks up and says, "SHUT UP! I'M TALKING TO YOUR MOTHER!"

Wrong number saves a life

A pastor was working late on a Saturday night at the Almighty God Tabernacle. Around 10:00PM he decided to call his wife before he left for home. Although the pastor let the phone ring several times, his wife didn't answer. A few moments later he
tried again and she answered right away. He asked her why she hadn't answered before, and she said that the phone hadn't rung.

The following Monday, the pastor received a call at the church office. The caller wanted to know why the pastor had called him Saturday night.

The pastor was confused. The caller said, "It rang and rang, but I didn't answer." The pastor remembered the incident and apologized for disturbing him, explaining that he'd intended to call his wife and must have dialed the wrong number.

The man said, "That's OK. Let me tell you my story. You see, I was planning to commit suicide that night, but before I did, I prayed, 'God if you're there, and you don't want me to do this, give me a sign now.' At that point my phone started to ring. I
looked at the Caller ID, and it said, 'Almighty God.' I was just too afraid to answer!"

God working on farm alone

A farmer purchased an old, run-down, abandoned farm with plans to turn it into a thriving enterprise. The fields were grown over with weeds, the farmhouse was falling apart, and the fences were broken down.

During his first day of work, the town preacher stops by to bless the man's work, saying, "May you and God work together to make this the farm of your dreams!"

A few months later, the preacher stops by again to call on the farmer. Lo and behold, it's a completely different place. The farm house is completely rebuilt and in excellent condition, there is plenty of cattle and other livestock happily munching on feed in well-fenced pens, and the fields are filled with crops planted in neat rows.

"Amazing!" the preacher says. "Look what God and you have accomplished together!"
"Yes, reverend," says the farmer, "but remember what the farm was like when God was working it alone!"

Cat given by God

He had a kitten that climbed up a tree in his backyard and then was afraid to come down. The pastor coaxed, offered warm milk, etc. The kitty would not come down. The tree was not sturdy enough to climb, so the pastor decided that if he tied a rope to his car and drove away so that the tree bent down, he could then reach up and get
the kitten.

He did! All the while, checking his progress in the car frequently, then figured if he went just a little bit further, the tree would be bent sufficiently for him to reach the kitten. But as he moved a little further forward, the rope broke.

The tree went "boing!" and the kitten instantly sailed through the air-out of sight.
The pastor felt terrible. He walked all over the neighborhood asking people if they'd seen a little kitten. No. Nobody had seen a stray kitten. So he prayed, "Lord, I just commit this kitten to your keeping," and went on about his business.

A few days later he was at the grocery store, and met one of his church members. He happened to look into her shopping cart and was amazed to see cat food. Now this woman was a cat hater and everyone knew it, so he asked her, "Why are you buying cat food when you hate cats so much?"

She replied, "You won't believe this," and told him how her little girl had been begging her for a cat, but she kept refusing. Then a few days before, the child had begged again, so the Mom finally told her little girl, "Well, if God gives you a cat, I'll let you keep it?" (Can you see where this is heading?)

She told the pastor, "I watched my child go out in the yard, get on her knees, and ask God for a cat. And really, Pastor, you won't believe this, but I saw it with my own eyes. A kitten suddenly came flying out of the blue sky, with its paws outspread, and landed right in front of her."

LETTERS TO GOD

A Nun asked her class to write a letter to God. Here are some of the results:

---> Dear God:
Instead of letting people die and making new ones, why don't you just keep the ones you have? - Johnny

---> Dear God:
Maybe Cain and Abel would not have killed each other if they had their own rooms. It worked with me and my brother. - Larry

---> Dear God:
If you watch me in church on Sunday, I'll show You my new shoes. - Mickey

---> Dear God:
Is it true my father won't get into Heaven if he uses his bowling words in the house? - Anita

---> Dear God:
Did You mean for the giraffe to look like that or was it an accident? - Norma

---> Dear God:
Thank you for the baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy. - Joyce

He Was Returned

A little old Jewish lady has taken her young grandson to the beach and he is playing in the shallow water. She is standing on the beach not wanting to get her feet wet, when all of a sudden, a huge wave appears from nowhere and crashes directly over the spot where the little boy is wading. The water recedes and the boy is no longer there. He has simply vanished into the sea.

The grandmother raises her hands high up toward the sky, screams and cries, "Lord, how could you take him? Have I not been a wonderful grandmother? Have I not been a wonderful mother? Have I not given to Bnai Brith? Have I not given to Hadassah? Have I not lit candles every Friday night at dusk? Have I not tried my very best to live the life that you would have me live?"

A loud voice booms down from the sky, "Okay, okay, already!"

A few seconds later another huge wave appears out of nowhere and crashes on the beach. As the water recedes, the little boy is playing there, smiling, splashing around as if nothing had ever happened. The loud voice booms again, "I have returned your grandson. Are you satisfied?"

The grandmother looks at the boy for a moment, cups her hands to her mouth and yells up at the sky, "He had a hat!"

Answered Prayers

A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small desert-like island.

The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agreed that they had no other recourse but to pray to God. However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.

The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the island, and he was able to eat its fruit. The other man's parcel of land remained barren.

After a week, the first man was lonely and he decided to pray for a wife. The next day, another ship was wrecked and the only survivor was a woman who swam to his side of the island. On the other side of the island, there was nothing.

Soon the first man prayed for a house, clothes, and more food. The next day, like magic, all of these were given to him. However, the second man still had nothing.

Finally, the first man prayed for a ship, so that he and his wife would leave the island. In the morning, he found a ship docked at his side of the island.

The first man boarded the ship with his wife and decided to leave the second man on the island. He considered the other man unworthy to receive God's blessings since none of his prayers had been answered.

As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from Heaven booming, "Why are you leaving your companion on the island?"

"My blessings are mine alone, since I was the one who prayed for them," the first man answered. "His prayers were all unanswered and so he does not deserve anything."

"You are mistaken!" the voice rebuked him. "He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings."

"Tell me," the first man asked the voice, "what did he pray for that I should owe him anything?"

"He prayed that all your prayers be answered."