How to Make a Believer Out of Someone, Quickly!

Hello folks, let’s chat…A couple weeks ago I told y’all a story about my prank-loving Papaw Stone, a rubber snake and a very real albeit dead snake. Well, as is often the case, that little funny brought out a round of “that reminds me of the time” stories from the All Things Southern community.

First there was the story from Georgia. Years ago two little boys worked up their courage to attend one of those bonafide snake handling congregations to see what all the fuss was about. Sure enough, when it came time for the business part of the meeting, someone brought out a box of honest to goodness rattlesnakes. The boys sat there all wide-eyed as the preacher stuck his foot in the box & started kicking those irritated snakes around.

Turning to the man beside him, one of the boys whispered, “Wow! That preacher shore has a lot of faith!”

“Yep,” the man said “He’s got a wooden leg, too!”

And then there was the Louisiana reader who told me an old story about a gospel singing group whose tour bus broke down in the hills of Kentucky. The singers were invited to enjoy the local church services while their vehicle was being repaired. To their horror they discovered the congregation was into handling real live, they-ought-to-have-a-permit to be indoors kind of snakes! As everyone watched, the host preacher picked up a big mean snake and began pressuring the lead singer to hold the thing. The poor boy didn’t want any of it. He looked around for help but his cohorts were nowhere to be found! The whole lily-livered bunch of ‘em had snuck out the door to hide in the woods, where they remained until the bus was repaired. After much insistence, the fellow took his turn with that angry snake. He lived to tell about it, too—which he did quite often on the rest of the tour, always ending with the same observation. “If a fellow wasn’t a believer when he picked that big rattler up, he sure was when he put him down!”

Hugs, Shellie