There was a tradesman, a painter called Jock,

who was very interested in making a buck where he

could, so he often would thin down paint to make it go a

wee bit further.

As it happened, he got away with this for some time,

but eventually the Presbyterian Church decided to do a

big restoration job on the roof of one their biggest

churches. Jock put in a bid, and because his price was

so competitive, he got the job.

And so he set to, with a right good will, erecting the

trestles and setting up the planks, and buying the

paint and, yes, I am sorry to say, thinning it down

with the turpentine.

Well, Jock was up on the scaffolding, painting away,

the job nearly done, when suddenly there was a

horrendous clap of thunder, and the sky opened the rain

poured down, washing the thin paint from all over the

church and knocking Jock fair off the scaffold to land

on the lawn, among the gravestones, surrounded by

telltale puddles of the thinned and useless paint.

Jock was no fool. He knew this was a judgment from the

Almighty, so he got on his knees and cried: "Oh, God!

Forgive me! What should I do?"

And from the thunder, a mighty voice spoke:

"Repaint!

Repaint and thin no more!"

~Author Unknown~