Furthermore…

Our Pastor had a couple of good bits today. First he told a favorite story about a certain 
monastery where every morning a monk would come out of the gate with what seemed to be an
empty cloth sack over his shoulder. The beggars and layabouts outside would wonder what
was behind this.

One day one of them got up the nerve to approach the monk and ask him. The monk said,
“This isn’t an empty sack.  Reaching way down inside he pulled out a beautiful gem, worth
a fortune.

Amazed, the guy said “If I had that I could straighten out my life, get married, settle
down, have kids, and amount to something.” So the monk gave him the jewel.

The next morning when the monk came out the same guy was there. The monk said, “You told
me that if I gave you the jewel you would straighten out your life. How come you’re still
here?”

The guy said, “You can have the jewel back. What I want is what is inside you that made
you give it to me.”

The other good bit was when the Pastor was making an announcement that a family choir is
being formed, and people are invited to join. Then he said that if not enough  people
come forward to join, he threatens to have Father Smith henceforth do all the singing.