Shedding Some Light

Back to School:

Test Preparation

One night, after they had helped their son, Mike, with his homework and then tucked him safely in bed, Mike’s parents overheard this prayer just after they closed his bedroom door: “Now I lay me down to rest. I hope to pass tomorrow’s test. If I should die before I wake, that’s one less test I’ll have to take.”

Philip Schuppel
Davis, W.Va.

Horticulture Class

When she was in college, our daughter initially had trouble managing her money. After sending a few checks her way, I hinted gently that the “money tree in the garden” was beginning to lose its leaves. In her next e-mail, she ended with this note: “Oh, yes, Dad, please remember to water the tree out back.”

George Kottwitz
Edwardsville, Ill.

A Math Quiz

I could tell that my grandson (and acolyte) Jonah was serious when he took me aside Easter afternoon and said he did not understand my sermon that morning. “Grandpa, you said, ‘Jesus came forth from the tomb.’”

“Yes,” I replied, “I did.”

“Well, then,” Jonah continued, “if He came fourth, who were the first three?”

I’m glad Jonah knows his numbers. Now I must work on his theology!

Rev. R. John Perling
First Lutheran Church
Los Angeles, Calif.