HIT ME AGAIN!

On Sunday morning, the pastor of a particular church was getting ready to preach his sermon.  He had the reputation of being an energetic and forceful preacher who could genuinely move his congregation with his eloquent homilies.  The only problem was that there was one member of his parish who had the annoying tendency of falling asleep during the sermon.  No matter how well the pastor preached or how enthusiastic the congregation became during the sermon, this man (named Sam) would invariably fall asleep.  The pastor decided that enough was enough and he developed a plan of action.

Shortly after he ascended the pulpit and began to preach, the pastor looked over at Sam's pew and, sure enough, Sam was already nodding off as usual.  So the pastor motioned to one of the elders.  According to the pastor’s prearranged plan, the elder took a long pole with a knob on the end, reached over with it, slightly tapped Sam on the head, and woke him up.

The pastor continued with his sermon.  A minute or so later, he noticed that Sam had fallen asleep again.  He signaled the elder and once again the elder reached over with the long pole, tapped Sam on the head, and woke him up.

A few minutes later, Sam fell back into a deep sleep and actually began to snore!  The pastor was now extremely annoyed.  He aggressively motioned to the elder. This time the elder reached over with the pole and gave Sam a violent crack on the head.

Sam fell out of the pew and on to the floor like a limp sack of potatoes!  The elder, thinking that he had ushered the poor man into life eternal, ran around to where Sam had fallen, got down on his knees, and pleaded, "Sam!  Sam!  Are you all right?  Say something!"

Sam replied, "HIT ME AGAIN! I CAN STILL HEAR HIM!"