Stolen Turkey

Ducking into confession with a turkey in his arms, Brian said, "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. I stole this turkey to feed my family. Would you take it and settle my guilt?"

"Certainly not," said the Priest. "As penance, you must return it to the one from whom you stole it."

"I tried," Brian sobbed, "but he refused. Oh, Father, what should I do?"

"If what you say is true, then it is all right for you to keep it for your family."

Thanking the Priest, Brian hurried off.

When confession was over, the Priest returned to his residence. When he walked into the kitchen, he found that someone had stolen his turkey.

The Horse Thief

A man in the old west was being tried for stealing a horse and, as you probably know from reading history, this was a very serious offense. You could be hung if you were caught stealing a horse. 

Now, the problem with this situation was that the man whose horse had been stolen had gotten the best of every person on the jury at one time or another. Each one of them had been swindled, cheated, or conned in some way by the plaintiff. And so the case was tried. 

The man whose horse had been stolen was sitting there and the judge asked the foreman of the jury, "Have you reached a verdict?" And the chairman said, "Yes we have, your honor." After a few moments of silence the chairman spoke and he said, "We find the defendant not guilty, if he will return the horse!" 

Laughter broke out, and so after the judge silenced everybody in the courtroom, he admonished the jury, "I can't accept that verdict. You have to retire until you reach another one." So they went back into the jury room and thought about how to render the verdict. 

Each jury-member thought about how the plaintiff, at one time or another, had gotten the best of them. So an hour later, the same thing happened. "Gentlemen of the jury have you reached a verdict?" the judge asked again. "Yes we have your honor," replied the foreman. "What say ye? What is your verdict?" 

The courtroom was deathly silent. You could have heard a pin drop. Eagerly, everyone awaited the verdict. The foreman stood and said, "We find the defendant not guilty and he can keep the horse!" The courtroom burst into laughter again. 

After hearing this story, you can come away from it thinking, "Well, what's the moral of the story?" If you cheat people and if you do wrong by people, sooner or later you are going to get yours? If you desire to be a friend, then you had better be a friend? If you desire other people to help you then you better help others? And if you desire justice at the hands of others, then you better practice justice towards them? 

George Antonakos

The Wish of A Dying Preacher

The old preacher had spent 40 years pastoring in the same church and was highly respected in the community. 

The end of his life was drawing near and as he lay on his death bed he ask for the local banker and the local lawyer to come and spend his last hours with him. 

Both were impressed that they would be ask and discussed amoung themselves what great pearl of wisdom the old pastor wished to share with them. As they enter his room he motioned for one to sit on his left and one on his right. 

As they sat down a great peace came upon the man of God, thirty minutes passed and not a word was spoken. 

Finally the banker leaned forward and ask, "Reverend, we were wondering what great pearl of wisdom you may want to share with us since you called us here."

The old preacher looked at him and replied, "As you know Jesus has been my example all my life, and since he died between two theives I decided that's the way I wanted to go".