A man was caught in a flood and stranded on the roof of a building
with the water rising.  A deeply religious man, he prays to God to
come and rescue him.  A neighbor comes by in a small inflatable raft. 
He invites the man to come down onto his raft so they can float to
safety, but the man says, "No, no...God will come and save me."  Then
the police come by in a motorboat and tell the man to come down and
get in the boat and they will save him. "No, no," says the man, "God
will come and save me."  With the water still rising a helicopter
comes by and offers to throw down a ladder to rescue the man.  "No,
no...God will come and save me," says the man.  But the water
continues to rise and the man drowns.  When he gets to heaven, the man
asks God, "Why didn't you come and save me?"  God says, "What did you
think the raft, boat, and helicopter were??"

This is the kind of story/allegory I am looking for.  Ideally, I'm
looking for some kind of website cataloguing a bunch of these stories,
maybe even searchable by their topic or meaning.  One or more links to
this type of website is what I would consider a satisfactory answer. 
They can be
true/personal stories or more widely known like the one above.  

If anyone has any good personal stories or knows of any other "popular"
stories, I'd love it if you'd be willing to post them as comments. 
They can be things you've experienced, stories about your kids that
have taught you something, well-known allegories, anything...just as
long as they have some larger meaning or point.

If there are any questions, please feel free to ask for clarification.  Thanks!!!

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Clarification of Question by needsomeinfo-ga on 06 Oct 2005 23:36 PDT

Sublime, that's a good one...thanks!!!  But I also want to be clear,
that they do NOT need to be faith/prayer/religion based. Those are
great too, but I'm also interested in all stories. Any topics will
do...the example I listed about faith just happens to be one that I
know and like.

---

Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 31 Oct 2005 21:25 PST

needsomeinfo...

Are you planning on picking a winner from amongst the official
researchers (usernames linked in blue) before the question
expires?

sublime1-ga

Aesops fables are somewhat similar to what you are looking for.
this website has over 100 of them
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/AesFabl.html

erierica...

I had a spiritual teacher named Paul Solomon who used to tell
this story (or something close to it) in teaching about prayer:

After much study and hard work, Sam finally landed a job as a
real estate agent. He then realized that the old car he had, 
which was on its last legs, was also not appropriate for use
as an agent, as he needed something in which he could chauffer
his prospects comfortably and stylishly.

Using the principles of prayer taught to him by a teacher like
Paul, he set out to pray for the car. He had created a prayer
and meditation space in his attic, so he knelt there and prayed:

"Lord, as I've been taught, I wouldn't pray for this material
object if it was just for my benefit, but my clients deserve
to have something comfortable to sit in while I drive them
around, and I deserve to have such a car in order to serve
them well and earn money for my family. I have no doubt that
you can bring this about somehow, and I am deeply grateful 
for your assistance with this need. Thank you very much."

Then Sam went about his business, knowing that repetition 
was unnecessary, anymore than redundant mail sent to the
same address. He simply waited for the reply.

A short time later, he heard a knock at his front door, 
and when he answered it, his uncle Leo was there. Uncle
Leo said, "Sam, I just won a new car in a contest, and,
though it's not brand new, it occurred to me my Cadillac
could be of use to you, especially with your new job as
a real estate agent. I have no need for any money, or 
any use for a second car, so I'd like to just give it 
to you as a gift."

Sam listened with increasing gladness, and, suddenly,
he said, "Uncle Earl, that's a wonderful offer, but
wait here just a second...I'll be right back!"

With that, Sam ran up to the attic, popped his head
inside and yelled, "Never mind, God!!!"

A glamorous fashion consultant was once diagnosed with cancer. This is
how she attempted to alleviate her suffering:
 
She sent a message through a friend of hers, a student at the
Vajrapani institute in California, to ask for advice about healing
practices. She was advised to buy animals that were in danger of being
killed and to then free them in a safe place, thus enabling them to
live longer.
 
This charming woman saved many animals from places where they were
going to be killed. She actually freed two or three thousand animals,
mostly chickens, fish, and worms. She had the chickens taken care of
on a farm, and she freed the fish in open water. She also bought two
thousand worms because they were cheap and readily available, and
released them in the garden outside her home. Liberating worms was
believed to be a particularly good idea as they go straight under the
ground when they are released. Since they have some protection there
from predators, they have a chance to live longer. It was less certain
that animals freed in forests, lakes, or the ocean would have lived
longer because they have natural enemies in those places.
 
It is said that when she returned to the hospital for a checkup after
doing these practices, the doctors could not find any trace of the
cancer.
 
True or not, this story should not come as a surprise to those
subscribing to the karmic theory. In the words of Deepak Chopra:
 
"No debt in the universe ever goes unpaid. There is a perfect
accounting system in the universe, and everything is a constant 'to
and fro' exchange."
 
Thus by granting those helpless animals the boon of life the lady
vindicated her faith in the authenticity of the karmic law, namely
that "karma is both action and the consequence of that action." The
actions she took were not magical or miraculous but rather a patient
planting of causes which eventually bloomed into the effects of health
and happiness. Indeed if we want to create happiness in our own lives,
we must learn to sow the seeds of happiness for others.
 
http://www.exoticindiaart.com/article/medicinebuddha

This is a true story.....though why in the world that should lend it
any increased credibility is beyond me.

When I was a small boy of two my mom died of intestinal cancer (pretty
funny so far, uh!).  My Dad remarried, and that marriage failed; so my
older brother and myself found ourselves living with my grandparents
in Flushing, Queens....in NYC.  They were my mom's parents; they had
emigrated from Germany as young adults just prior to World War I.  I
was about 5 years old at the time, and my brother 5 years older than
that.

On this particular occasion, my brother and I had done something
"wicked" enough that it would require my father's discipline when he
returned home from work.  Now, being a teacher himself, my Dad had
very mixed feelings about corporal punishment....he didn't really
believe in it per se, but it being the late '50's, and anxious about
raising us with only Grandma and Grandpa's help, he had decided that
some compromised form of physical "learning" was necessary.

So what he would do was this; he would roll up any available newspaper
or magazine he found in the house, tell us to put out our hands, and
proceed to whack us on the outstretched palms until he felt we had
learned our lesson and/or he had assuaged his own fears about raising
us as best he could in the "right way".

On this particular evening, my Dad returned from the high school where
he taught "Special Ed", walked in the door and immediately got an
earful from my Grandma.  There was an awful pause when she concluded,
while he decided on his next course of action.  My brother Rick and I
waited behind the dining room door, listening through the crack in
wall for all we were worth.  The door suddenly swung open and my
Father strode through into the dining room proper.  "Come here", he
commanded, "Do you know what you've done??", and then proceeded to
regale us with the complete litany of sins he'd only recently learned
himself.  "What have I always told you about obeying your grandmother,
uhh??? What have I always told you about listening to that woman, like
your Mother listened to her when she was growing up, uhh??  Uhhh??". 
Now my Dad had certain cues he would give out, poker players would
call them "tells", that gave you some idea of how mad he was at any
given time.  One of them was his use of the rhetorical device of
repetition (once a teacher, always a teacher); another was when he
brought our Mom's memory into the mix.  But the worst, the clear
turn-and-run moment, the red flag of fear, was when he would curl his
lower lip in and down slightly, so that his lower canine teeth showed
when he spoke.  "Whaddu I havva do to makke myseff cleer to you tuu,
uhhuh????"; it also, understandably, affected his speech.

Well, that's where we were now.....the canines you could see from
across the room. He picked up a newspaper, and with both hands started
to roll it.  He turned, and began to move slowly towards us.  "Puft
out yuur Hanns!!!, he cried. By now I'm a mess, crying and wailing;
Rick is struggling to hold on to the last threads of Tough Older
Brother-ness.  My Dad suddenly pulled us forward, raised his hand to
strike....and at that precise moment, my Grandma, Angel of Mercy and
all things good, comes rushing into the room from the kitchen. 
"Frank, Frank, stop it, don't do it ...that's today's paper!!!!!"


She didn't do it to be funny.  She never understood why we'd all be
howling with laughter at something she might say, that she saw no
humour in at all.  She didn't do it even to save us from getting
whacked on the wrist.  She said it because it was true.  She had a
knack for living completely in the moment, happy or sad, joyous or
difficult.  She might not have seen that as following the Dharma, and
she wouldn't have seen the point in meditation, but she was the most
deeply spiritual person I've ever known.  She lived her life every day
to the fullest; and that I think is the real point of this story.

Hope it helps!

I grew up in northeastern Oklahoma, very near the Cherokee Nation
Tribal Headquarters. One of my closest friends, a little girl named
Billie, attended a Cherokee Baptist Church. Occasionally Billie and
her family would take me to church with them on Sunday mornings. The
church services were in the Cherokee language, which I did not
understand, but Bible studies and Sunday school classes were taught in
English. I remember being very impressed by a simple parable told by
the Sunday school teacher, an elderly Cherokee man. The parable was
about a young Cherokee who is brought before the tribal elders, who
are concerned about his aggressive tendencies. One of the elders takes
the young man aside and tells him that his anger is understandable,
since all humans have within them two wolves. One wolf is good and
peaceable, and the other is evil and angry. The two wolves are in
constant battle with one another, since neither is powerful enough to
destroy the other. The young man asks the elder "But if they are of
equal power, which wolf will win?" And the elder replies, "The one you
feed the most."

I heard this one on "The West Wing" and thought it was nice.  The
context is that one of the staff was suffering from post traumatic
stress after having been shot.  His work is suffering and he's afraid
he's going to be fired so he has a talk with one of his superiors who
tells this story (not sure if the quote is exact):

"This guy's walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The walls
are so steep he can't get out. A doctor passes by and the guy shouts
up, 'Hey you. Can you help me out?' The doctor writes a prescription,
throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a priest comes along and
the guy shouts up, 'Father, I'm down in this hole can you help me
out?' The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and
moves on.  Then a friend walks by, 'Hey, Joe, it's me can you help me
out?' And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, 'Are you stupid?
Now we're both stuck down here.' The friend says, 'Yeah, but I've been
down here before and I know the way out.'"

You could do worse than dig out 'The Little World of Don Camillo'
- Giovanni Guareschi

Here is an excellent reference source of many stories 
http://www.inspirationalstories.com/categories.html