A guy from Minnesota* died and was sent to hell. He had been a horrible man his entire life. The devil† put him to work breaking up rocks with a sledgehammer. To make it worse, he cranked up the temperature and the humidity.

After a couple of days, the devil checked in on his victim to see if he was suffering adequately. The devil was aghast to find the Minnesotan cheerfully swinging his hammer and whistling a happy tune.

The devil walked up to him and said, “I don’t understand this. I’ve turned the heat way up, it’s humid and you’re crushing rocks; why are you so happy?”

The Minnesotan, with a big smile, looked at the devil and replied, “This is great! It reminds me of July on the farm. Hot, humid – I’m used to this. It reminds me of home. This is fantastic! Sure, it’s hard work, but considering where I am, I can’t complain.”

The devil, extremely perplexed, walked away to ponder the Minnesotan’s remark. Then he decided to drop the temperature into the low 40’s, send down a driving rain and torrential wind. Soon, Hell became a wet, muddy mess.

Walking in mud up to his ankles and soaked to the skin, the Minnesotan was happily working away in the rain, singing (is this too corny?) “Singing in the Rain,” and pushing a wheelbarrow full of crushed rocks.

Again, the devil asked how he could be happy in such conditions.

The Minnesotan replies, “This is great! Just like spring in Minnesota. A little mud never hurt anyone! Sure, it’s a mess, but…”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, considering where you are…” The devil was now completely baffled but more determined than ever to make the Minnesotan suffer. He made the temperature plummet to numbers far below zero. Suddenly, Hell was blanketed in snow and ice.

Confident that this would surely make the Minnesotan unhappy, the devil checked in on him again. He was again amazed at what he saw. The Minnesotan was dancing, singing, and twirling his sledgehammer in the air as he cavorted about in glee.

Now the devil was beside himself. “How can you be so happy? Don’t you know it’s 40 below zero?” he screamed.

Jumping up and down, the Minnesotan nailed the devil squarely in the face with a snowball and yelled, “Hell has frozen over! The Vikings must be going to the Super Bowl!”

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*Originally, he was from Wisconsin, but I changed it because I’m afraid of I dearly love my sweet wife, who is a Packers fan.
†Yes, I’m aware of the theological difficulties with this story. It’s a joke, for pete’s sake.