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"A Local Call"

A man decides to write a book about churches around the USA. He starts by flying to San Francisco, and went to a very large church and began taking photographs. He spots a golden telephone on a wall and is intrigued with a sign which reads "$10,000 a minute."

He asks the pastor about the phone and the sign. The pastor says the phone is a direct line to Heaven and if he pays the price he can talk directly to God.

As he continues to visit churches in Seattle, Boise, Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, Philadelphia, and on around the U.S., he finds more phones with the same sign, and the same answer from each pastor.

Finally, he arrives in South Texas. Upon entering a church along the Rio Grande, lo and behold, he sees the usual golden telephone. But THIS time, the sign reads "Calls: 25 cents."

Fascinated, he asks the pastor, "I've been in cities all across the country and in each church I found this golden telephone, phones that call God. But, in the other churches the cost was $10,000 a minute. Your sign reads 25 cents a call. Why?"

The pastor, smiling gently, replies, "Oh, my son, that's very easy to explain. You see, you're in TEXAS now and, of course, from here it's a local call ."