Thursday, September 17, 2009

If You Want to Bring Change Don’t Put the Knife in or Touch any Sore Points

A Catholic Priest, Protestant Pastor and Jewish Rabbi were all chaplains at the same university in the USA.

They would meet 2-3 times a week over coffee to tell each other how they were getting on converting the heathen students.

One day one of them said, “It is all very fine converting these pagans, but that is easy. I bet you couldn't convert a grizzly bear.”

So they made an agreement that in the next 2 weeks they would each find a grizzly and try to convert it.

They met two weeks later - at the hospital.

“Well,” said the Catholic priest who was the only one still standing - but with two broken arms and covered in deep lacerations, “I found my grizzly and I began to bless him in the name of the blessed virgin. But it attacked me and I was only just lucky enough to get out my bottle of holy water which I sprinkled on his forehead and he became as meek and mild as a lamb. He is going through catechism classes now and the bishop is coming to confirm him in a couple of weeks.”

“Well,” said the Protestant Pastor who was also covered in lacerations but was sitting in a wheel chair with two broken legs, “I found my bear and I began to preach the gospel to him in the name of Jesus but he attacked me. So I grabbed him and we rolled down the hill wrestling together until we fell into the river. Then I managed to grab his head and baptize him in the name of Jesus and he became as meek and mild as a lamb. He is now doing discipleship classes and is thinking about going into the ministry.”

Then they looked at the Jewish Rabbi. He was lying almost dead on a stretcher.

“How did you get on?” they said.

“Well,” he said, “I found my bear alright. But I think that maybe circumcision wasn't the best place to start.”

Dr Geoff Pound

Geoff can be contacted by email at geoffpound(at)gmail.com on Facebook and Twitter.

Image: “I found my grizzly and I began to bless him in the name of the blessed virgin.”