The preacher walked out to the church parking lot where he
saw a group of boys surrounding a dog.

Concerned lest the boys
were hurting the dog, he went over and asked "What are you
doing with that dog?"

One of the boys replied, "This dog is just an old neighborhood
stray. We all want him, but only one of us can take him home.
So we've decided that whichever one of us can tell the biggest
lie will get to keep the dog."

Of course, the preacher was taken aback. "You boys shouldn't be
having a contest telling lies!" he exclaimed.

He then launched
into a ten minute sermon against lying, beginning, "Don't you
boys know it's a sin to lie," and ending with, "Why, when I
was your age, I never told a lie."

There was dead silence for about a minute.

Just as the preacher
was beginning to think he'd gotten through to them, the smallest
boy gave a deep sigh and said, "All right, give him the dog."