What Just Happened?

We stopped at Sheetz in Bellewood today and ended up paying for an unexpected performance.  What I mean to say is: I think we were scammed.  As I was closing the door to the Suburban, a women approached asking for help.  She appeared to be on the verge of hysteria and rather in a hurry.  She told us that her mother had been in an accident and was life flighted to Pittsburgh.  She had called her sister-in-law to come take her out there, but had left in such a hurry she didn't have any money for gas.  If we could just give her $10 she would mail it back to us later.  Yes there were definitely yellow flags all over the situation, but I looked at Eric and he pulled a ten dollar bill out of his wallet.  He handed it to me, and I handed it to the lady.  She said again, "I can send it back to you."  The words that came out of my mouth were something like this:  "In the name of Jesus, God bless you."  Meanwhile I grabbed the woman's hand and squeezed it for a second.  It was like I was not myself.  As she turned to get back in the car with her "sister-in-law" I told her we would pray for her mother, and she said, "God bless you." 

I did glance over to see what she did when she got in the car.  She was talking to the other lady and still seemed to have her tears on.  As I took Eric's hand and bowed my head to pray over a situation I suspected to be fake, the car backed out and drove away without stopping at the gas pump.  They even yelled thank you out the window.  It seemed they were much more cheerful.  A moment earlier she had said, "God bless you," as she had gotten in the car still acting shaken and frightened.  Now it seemed they might be laughing at us.  I had hoped they were sincere despite the feeling that it was a set up, and yet I didn't want her mother to be hurt.  When they were gone and I had prayed for the mom, I expressed my thoughts about what had just transpired.  My sweet daughter didn't want to believe it, and was a bit shocked that I would jump to that conclusion, but after she recalled the details I think she was in agreement.  We all know that $10 worth of gas wasn't going to get them anywhere near Pittsburgh.  I told her that we want to be able to think the best of people, but we have to be cautious too.  We all know that $10 worth of gas wasn't going to get those ladies anywhere near Pittsburgh.  My girl wanted to know why she would have done that for $10.  I told her that if she gets $10 from 300 people she'll have $3,000.  As fishy as it was I don't think we would have given her much more money.

The truth is that we did give her much more than $10.  We showed love and compassion for her.  We treated her as though the circumstances she described were real, and we cared about her.  We shared our faith with her in a couple of short sentences.  We didn't get to tell what Jesus had done for her, but as I squeezed her hand I felt something.  I felt like I was being used as a conduit of God's love.  In a way I received a blessing.  I have no idea what she will use the money for, but maybe that scene will replay in her mind as it does in mine.  Maybe she felt God's love for her at that moment as I did.  Maybe it will be one of many signposts along her journey that point her to Jesus.  Maybe, though, she will just laugh about it and talk about what fools Christians are;  God's Word does say, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."  1 Corinthians 1:18.  Regardless of what she does, we can have peace in knowing that we did what we could in the moment.  I will pray for the mother despite my suspicions, but I will pray for the daughter all the more.  

Maybe I am wrong.  I don't think so, but I could be.  Maybe she was so happy that someone helped her that she forgot to get gas.  I doubt it, but either way neither Eric or I see any other way that we should have handled the situation as it was.  Maybe we were meant to just show her love.  Maybe we were meant to pray for her.  Maybe we were meant to warn others to beware of the scam in that location.  Watch out if you stop at Sheetz in Bellewood.  I would guess that is not the only location they are visiting, and they are surely not the only ones out there doing this kind of thing, so please just use caution wherever you are. As it is we are only $10 poorer monetarily, but we are a bit more rich in experience.  I pray that God uses the interaction to shine a little light in the woman's heart.  It's a very weird feeling, having the feeling of being taken advantage of, and yet not knowing for sure.  If something like this were to happen again we could consider offering to make the purchase ourselves instead; the tank may have already been full. It was so surreal, though, and neither of us really hesitated.  I have the feeling that we were meant to deliver the message as we did.