A preacher fell ill one weekend so one of the deacons had to step up and fill the pulpit. He prefaced his clumsy sermon efforts by acknowledging his frailty. “See, now, brothers and sisters, this is like when a window is broken. And until a nice new glass pane can be installed, someone just puts a piece of cardboard in the spot to keep out the wind. So today I’m like that piece of cardboard. Just filling in, see?” He proceeded to stumble through a half-hour message. Afterwards, one of the ladies coming through took pity and tried to buck him up. “Brother Jones, see, that was a fine sermon,” she gushed. “So you’re not just a piece of cardboard at all. No, sir, you’re a real pane.”
