Wave Maker: Discerning a Politician

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Thursday, August 18, 2005

Discerning a Politician

An old country preacher had a teenage son, and it was getting time the boy should give some thought along the line of choosing a profession.

Like many young men, then and now, the boy didn't really know what he wanted to do - and he didn't seem overly concerned about it. One day, while the boy was away at school, his father went into the boy's room and placed on his study table a Bible, a silver dollar, and a bottle of whiskey.

"Now then," the old preacher thought, "I'll just hide behind the door here, and when my son comes home from school this afternoon, I'll see which of these three objects he picks up. If he picks up the Bible, he's going to be a preacher like me, and what a blessing that would be! If he picks up the dollar, he's going to be a businessman, and that would be okay too. But if he picks up the bottle, he's going to be a drunkard - a no-good drunkard and Lord, what a shame that would be."

That afternoon, the preacher heard his son's footsteps as he came into the house and headed back to his room where he spotted the objects on the table and stopped to inspect them. Shortly, he put the Bible under his arm, dropped the silver dollar into his pocket and took a big swig from the whiskey bottle.

"Dear Lord," the old man wailed sorrowfully, "He's gonna be a politician!"

Posted by: Wave Maker / 10:42 AM/ |