Sermon Illustrations

The story is told of a young boy who wanted $100 very badly. He prayed for a long time, but nothing happened. Undaunted by the lack of response, he wrote a letter to God presenting his request once again.

When the postal authorities received the letter addressed to “God, USA,” not knowing what else to do, they decided to deliver it to the President. Mr. President was interested in the letter enough to instruct his secretary to send the little boy $5. He thought this amount might be enough to encourage such a young boy.

And indeed, the little boy was delighted with the $5 bill. He sat down immediately to write a thank-you note to God. This too was forwarded to the President. It read:

Dear God, Thank you very much for sending the money. However, I noticed that for some reason you sent it through Washington DC and those guys deducted $95 in taxes!”

While I can’t claim that this story is true, you have to give the little boy credit for persistence in putting his prayers before God, and his faithfulness in believing that it was man, and not God, who had messed up the answer.