Here’s a great quote from Gary Thomas’ “Seeking the Face of God.” Even brainy-head Christians can poke fun at themselves with a good quip. This one is a classic. Gary is making the point that sometimes we can have the best intentions to do something good, only to find the result is not what we expected. Enjoy.

“Alan Thornhill, a British playwright, tells a true story about his mother. When Mrs. Thornhill learned that some young acquaintances had gotten married, she sent them a congratulatory telegram, in a time when telegrams were the normal form of international communications. Being a godly woman, Mrs. Thornhill liked to put Bible verses at the end of her letters, but since she was sending a telegram–which charges by the word–she settled on including a biblical notation: 1 John 4:18.

“1 John 4:18 is an appropriate enough verse for a newlywed couple–“Perfect love casts out fear”–but there was just one problem. The telegram operator misunderstood Mrs. Thornhill and dropped the ‘1’, writing ‘John 4:18.’ If you’re familiar with John chapter four (the woman at the well), you can imagine what happened. Instead of reading, ‘perfect love casts out fear’, the new bride, with her husband looking over her shoulder, read, ‘You have had five husbands, and the man whom you now have is not your husband.’

“Good intentions, wrong result.”