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Last night during the church meeting in La Esperanza we had a stranger come in during the singing. He asked our pardon for interrupting, but said he and his wife (and their two little ones with them) needed some assistance.
He said that they had been pulled over in Alaska (about two hours' drive from us), and their truck was stolen. They had hitched rides this far, he said, and still needed to get to San Marcos, which is another hour down the road.
My husband talked with him about that for a minute, and then proceeded to share the gospel with him. He listened intently, and Daniel did his best to show the man that his need for Jesus was greater than any other need. The man said he wanted to be saved, but his wife didn't.
Well, my husband offered to drive his family to San Marcos, and the man refused. There were also some inconsistencies with his story and what his wife said while I chatted with her. So we were pretty sure the story was completely fabricated.
So, do you think we gave the couple some money, or not? What would you have done?
UPDATED:
Actually, we did give them some money. We didn't have much, but what we gave them would have paid their bus fare to San Marcos. Call us fools, but we just can't get around, "Give to him that asketh thee." And who knows if there really was a need, even if the story was fabricated? Only the Lord knows, and it's in His hands.
Self-hate is NOT Humility
5 years ago
4 comments:
The Bible is clear that we are to help the needy but it doesn't say we are to be stupid and give to thieves. We are to be good stewards of the church,s money and our own money that God provides. When stories are inconsistent that is a big tipoff. If someone truly needed to get somewhere, they would have taken a ride offered. Bob once drove someone to OK City, OK from Cleveland (a 2 1/2 hour drive) to the bus station. The problem with that was, I never knew he left town til he was on his way back. The man could have killed him and dumped his body somewhere and I'd have never known he had went anywhere.
I understand your concern, Tammy! My husband has done some "risky" things, too, to help others. All I can say is that they are God's, and He takes care of his own... Especially if they are on one of His errands.
:o)
Oh by the way, that fellow actually called us back Saturday and told us that the stolen truck has been recovered, and that he hoped to visit us again some day.
Who knows??
Interesting. A similar thing happened to me a while ago. We pulled into a parking spot at our local store, and a young woman came up to my fiance and me and said that she was on E and couldn't afford the gas to make it home. We followed her to the closest gas station, and I thought my fiance was going to put ten dollars in her tank, but instead he filled her tank for her. I thought this was a bit much because we don't have a lot of money. At this time gas was over 3 dollars a gallon. But my fiance simply said, if you were alone and had run out of gas, I'd want someone to do the same for you. Well, that just about floored me. This was before we were Christians, so we didn't understand the significance of my fiance's actions. But I see now that he's always had the heart of a Christian.
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