I had been teaching my three-year old daughter, Caitlin, the Lord's Prayer. For several evenings at bedtime, she would repeat after me the lines from the prayer. Finally, she decided to go solo. I listened with pride as she carefully enunciated each word, right up to the end of the prayer: "Lead us
not into
temptation," she prayed, "but deliver us some E-mail.
Amen."
One Sunday in a Midwest city, a young child was "acting up" during the
morning worship hour.
The parents did their best to maintain some sense of order in the pew but
were losing the
battle. Finally, the father picked the little fellow up and walked sternly
up the aisle on his way
out. Just before reaching the safety of the foyer, the little one called
loudly to the congregation,
"Pray for me! Pray for me!"
And one particular four-year old prayed, "And forgive us our trashbaskets as
we forgive those
who put trash in our baskets."
A little boy was overheard praying: "Lord, if you can't make me a better
boy, don't worry about
it. I'm having a real good time like I am."
A Sunday school teacher asked her little children, as they were on the way
to church service,
"And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?" One bright little girl
replied, "Because people
are sleeping."
The preacher was wired for sound with a lapel mike and as he preached, he
moved briskly
about the platform, jerking the mike cord as he went. Then he moved to one
side, getting wound
up in the cord and nearly tripping before jerking it again. After several
circles and jerks, a little
girl in the third pew leaned toward her mother and whispered, "If he gets
loose, will he hurt
us?"
Six-year old Angie and her four-year old brother Joel were sitting
together in church. Joel
giggled, sang and talked out loud. Finally, his big sister had had enough.
"You're not supposed
to talk out loud in church." "Why? Who's going to stop me?" Joel asked.
Angie pointed to the
back of the church and said, "See those two men standing by the door?
They're hushers."
A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin, 5 and Ryan, 3. The
boys began to argue
over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a
moral lesson. "If
Jesus were sitting here, He would say 'Let my brother have the first
pancake, I can wait. "Kevin
turned to his younger brother and said, "Ryan, you be Jesus!"
A father was at the beach with his children when the four-year old son ran
up to him, grabbed
his hand, and led him to the shore, where a seagull lay dead in the sand.
"Daddy, what
happened to him?" the son asked. "He died and went to Heaven," the dad
replied. The boy
thought a moment and then said, "Did God throw him back down?"
After the church service a little boy told the pastor, "When I grow up I'm
going to give you some
money." "Well, thank you," the pastor replied, "but why?" "Because my daddy
says you're one of
the poorest preachers we've ever had."
A wife invited some people to dinner. At the table, she turned to their
six-year old daughter
and said,"Would you like to say the blessing?" "I wouldn't know what to
say," the girl replied.
"Just say what you hear Mommy say," the wife answered. The daughter bowed
her head and
said, "Lord why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?"
A Sunday school class was studying the Ten Commandments. They were ready
to discuss the
last one. The teacher asked if anyone could tell her what it was. Susie
raised her hand, stood
tall, and quoted, "Thou shall not take the covers off the neighbor's wife.
At Sunday School they were teaching how God created everything, including
human beings.
Little Johnny, a child in the kindergarten class, seemed especially intent
when they told him
how Eve was created out of one of Adam's ribs. Later in the week his mother
noticed him lying
as though he was in pain. When asked what was wrong Little Johnny responded,
"I have a pain
in my side. I think I'm going to have a wife!"
This last one is out of the mouth of a 3 year old boy: Our father, who
does art in heaven, Howard
is his name...."