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DISTRESS/TROUBLE

The deputy finance commissioner of the state of Tennessee recently spent an evening in an elevator because a phone bill was never paid. Jerry Adams oversees the state's $25 billion dollar budget. He was working alone on weekends, when an elevator he was in broke, stranding him between floors. When Adams tried to call for help, he found the phone didn't work because the service was disconnected.

A Finance Department representative said the bill for that phone was mistakenly sent to the Department of Human Services. Since officials had no record of that particular line, they never paid the bill. Adams said the only thing he could do was push a button that rang an emergency bell. He did that every five minutes for hours until a cleaning crew rescued him around four o'clock in the morning. Adams added, "It was not the way I wanted to spend a Sunday evening."

—Associated Press, Unpaid Bill Leaves Man Stuck in Elevator, May 25, 2005. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

Psalm 18:6 NIV "In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears."