Story from "What's the Least I Can Believe..."

[DeadpanDoubter]

"...and Still Be A Christian?"

Yeah, I saw the ebook was free on one of the freebie blogs I follow, so I thought "what the hell" and downloaded it. It's a very open-minded book written by a Methodist minister, but my favorite parts are the little stories he tells to illustrate points.

This one in particular sounds almost like a joke:

I once heard a story about a woman who locked her keys in her car in a rough part of town. She found an old coat hanger lying on the street and tried to break in, but with no success. Feeling desperate, she finally prayed, "Dear God, please send somebody to help me." Within five minutes an old rusty car pulled up. A rough-looking, tattooed, bearded man wearing a biker skull rag walked toward her. She thought, 'Great Scott! This is who God sent to help me?' But she was desperate. So when the man asked if he could help, she said, "Can you help me break into my car?"
He said, "Sure, I'm good at that." He took the coat hanger, walked over to her car, and in thirty seconds flat opened the door.
She hugged the man and said, "Thank you so much. You are a very nice man."
He replied, "Lady, I'm not a nice man. I got out of prison just today. I served two years for auto theft and have only been out for about an hour."
The woman hugged the man again and shouted, with great enthusiasm, "Thank you, God, for sending me a professional!"

[Meshakhad]

I'm going to repeat that as a joke.

[itachirumon]

I too will repeat that as a joke, because if that has even one kernel of truth to it, that is the SHIT

[Sigmaleph]

Funny as a joke, a bit too awkwardly phrased to pass for a real story.

[DeadpanDoubter]

Yeah, the guy's not a great writer (I keep wanting to edit to his book purely for flow).

[Dragon Zachski]

Actually, something like that happened to my mother, only with less desperation.

She locked her keys in her car, and asked a couple of youth if they could help her get back into her own car. They got it unlocked in seconds flat. She paid them, and they went on their merry way.

[clockworkgirl21]

I've actually heard it before as a joke.

[MaybeNever]

It doesn't matter too much whether or not it's true, I can see it easily illustrating some kind of point about prayer. Although a more illustrative story would be a child who has his legs blown off fighting in the Balkans or Africa or something and prays to God to let him walk again and gets nothing.

[chad sexington]

I rather like the story of the man on the cliff as an illustration of prayer.