“Once there was a painter who was very greedy and crooked. When his very large, local church, which was right in the centre of the town square, needed repainting the members of the congregation and the church elders got together and when bids were considered for the job, offered him the job.
So the painter bought paint for the job and set to work. But what the church did not know was that he was very dishonest and always charged for good quality paint, but bought cheap paint and thinned it down to make it go further.
Well, his bid was about as low as he could go and so he decided to thin his paint even more so that it would spread farther. He got about half of the outside walls done and concluded that he would have to thin what he had left even more so that his paint would stretch to cover the whole church.
Unfortunately, that night a terrible storm came to the town and when the painter was awakened by the crash of thunder he realized the thinned paint wouldn’t be dry yet and wouldn’t stick to walls of the church and would be washed away. Then the painter panicked and he realized that he would be found out as a cheat and shamed in front of the whole town.
As soon as the next day has dawned, he rushed out of the house to the church and sees all of the thinned paint covering the lawn in front of the church. Faced with humiliation and possible ruin of his business, he does what is only natural and falls down on his knees and prays.
“God,” he says, “please forgive me and help me to see the error of my ways.” Just then the heavens open above him and he is bathed in a pearly radiance. A voice can be heard in the sudden stillness of the morning that rings as if it comes from Heaven itself. God speaks to the painter and says: “Repaint and thin no more!”
Be sure your sins will find you out!