A man in Topeka, Kansas decided to write a book about churches around the
country.
He started by flying to San Francisco and started working east from there.
Going to a very
large church, he began taking photographs and making notes. He spotted a
golden telephone
on the vestibule wall and was intrigued with a sign, which read "Calls:
$10,000 a minute."
Seeking out the pastor he asked about the phone and the sign. The pastor
answered that this
golden phone is, in fact, a direct line to heaven and if he pays the price
he can talk directly to God.
The man thanked the pastor and continued on his way. As he continued to
visit churches in Seattle,
Dallas, St. Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee, and around the United States, he
found more phones with
the same sign, and the same answer from each pastor.
Finally, he arrived in Pennsylvania . Upon entering a church in Pittsburgh,
he saw the usual golden
telephone. But THIS time the sign read "Calls: $0.35 cents." Fascinated,
he asked to talk to the pastor,
"Father Jones, I have been in cities all across the country and in each
church I have found this golden
telephone and have been told it is a direct line to Heaven and that I could
talk to God, but in the other
churches the cost was $10,000 a minute. Your sign reads only $0.35 cents a
call. Why?
The priest, smiling benignly, replied : "Son, you're in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania now, home of the Pittsburgh
Steelers-5 times Super Bowl Champions, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the
Pittsburgh Penguins, 3 vibrant rivers
meeting at the Point of the most beautiful downtown area around, the city
with the best hospitals,
neighborhoods and friendliest people in the world!
You're in God's Country....It's a local call."