I had been teaching my three-year old daughter the Lord's Prayer. For several evenings at bedtime, she would repeat after me the lines from the prayer. Finally, she decided to go solo. I listened with pride as she carefully enunciated each word, right up to the end of the prayer: “Lead us not into temptation,” she prayed, “but deliver us some E-mail. Amen.”

And one particular four-year old prayed, “And forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets.”

A little boy was overheard praying: “Lord, if you can't make me a better boy, don't worry about it. I'm having a real good time like I am.”

A Sunday school teacher asked her little children, as they were on the way to church service, “And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?” One bright little girl replied, “Because people are sleeping.”

The preacher was wired for sound with a lapel microphone, & as he preached, he moved briskly about the platform, jerking the mike cord as he went. Then he moved to one side, getting wound up in the cord & nearly tripping before jerking it again. After several circles & jerks, a little girl in the third pew leaned toward her mother & whispered, “If he gets loose, will he hurt us?”

Six-year old Angie & her four-year old brother Joel were sitting together in church. Joel giggled, sang & talked out loud. Finally, his big sister had had enough. “You're not supposed to talk out loud in church.” “Why? Who's going to stop me?” Joel asked. Angie pointed to the back of the church & said, “See those two men standing by the door? They're hushers.”

A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin, 5, and Ryan, 3. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson. “If Jesus were sitting here, He would say ‘Let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait’”. Kevin turned to his younger brother & said, “Ryan, you be Jesus!”

A father was at the beach with his children when his four-year old son ran up to him, grabbed his hand, & led him to the shore, where a seagull lay dead in the sand. “Daddy, what happened to him?” the son asked. “He died & went to Heaven,” the dad replied. The boy thought a moment & then said, “Did God throw him back down?”

A Sunday school class was studying the Ten Commandments. They were ready to discuss the last one. The teacher asked if anyone could tell her what it was. Susie raised her hand, stood tall, & shouted, “Thou shall not take the covers off thy neighbor's wife.”

At Sunday School they were teaching how God created everything, including human beings. Little Johnny, a child in the kindergarten class, seemed especially intent when they told him how Eve was created out of one of Adam's ribs. Later in the week his mother noticed him lying as though he was ill, & asked, “Johnny what is the matter?” Little Johnny responded, “I have a pain in my side. I think I'm going to have a wife!”

This last one is out of the mouth of my co-workers 3-year old son Reese: “Our father, who does art in heaven, Howard is his name….”