In a small, deeply religious town, a man found himself in desperate need of a new horse.
Knowing that the local church often had resources to spare, he decided to pay the priest a visit to see if the priest might be able to find him a horse.
The man approached the kindly priest, explaining his predicament:
“Father, I’m very poor, but I need a horse to transport me to and from my job. Is there any way on earth you could find me a trusty steed?”
The priest mulled it over.
He did have a horse, but it had a few quirks.
You see, the priest had personally trained this horse himself.
After a little thinking, the priest decided lending the horse to the poor man was the right thing to do.
So, the priest led the poor man to a modest stable behind the church:
“My good man,” the priest said, “I have just the horse for you. But before you take him, there’s something you must know.”
The man listened intently as the priest revealed the unique nature of this particular equine:
“To make this horse stop, you must simply say the word ‘Amen,'” the priest explained.
The poor man nodded.
“Got it. ‘Amen’ to stop. But how do I make him go?”
“Why that’s easy,” the priest said.
“To make him go, all you need to do is say ‘Thank the Lord!'”
Believing he understood the peculiar instructions, the man thanked the priest and led the horse out of the stable.
The poor man jumped onto the horse and yelled out ‘Thank the Lord!’
At that, the horse started to run.
As he rode off into the distance, the man found himself growing drowsy, lulled by the gentle sway of the horse’s gait.
Before long, he had drifted off into a deep slumber, while the horse rode on.
Suddenly, the man awoke with a start, his eyes flying open as he realized the horse was racing towards the edge of a sheer cliff.
In a moment of sheer panic, he remembered the priest’s instructions, and cried out: “Amen!”
True to the priest’s word, the horse immediately came to a halt, its hooves mere inches from the cliff edge.
The man let out a sigh of relief, his heart pounding in his chest.
“Whew,” he exclaimed, “thank the Lord!”
