Appealing To Your Greed 

Appealing To Your Greed

As my father and I were walking across a Safeway parking lot, a van pulled up beside us. The bald driver asked if we could help him. I thought he was going to ask for directions so I said "Perhaps." He asked us if we could understand his English since he said he was Italian. He related that he came from an Italian fashion show at the Convention Place in Seattle. As he was leaving for the airport, he told us he had some clothes in the back. At this point, he said something in what I thought was Italian. It was a crucial statement, of course, one that would tell us exactly why he is asking us for help. When I indicated that I did not understand him, he proceeded to relate his story from the beginning--and again spoke in something other than English at that crucial moment.

I could have asked him what exactly he was planning to do with his clothes but I thought that was a rude question to ask so I did not. For five minutes, he would relate the entire story from the very beginning, over and over again. Suddenly, it dawned on me that the guy was trying to sell us clothes. Hurriedly, I explained that we were in a hurry and that we had to go. "Ciao," he said and off he went driving around the lot.

Shaking his head, my father thought it was all a scam. "He's an extortionist!" my father said in a loud voice as we entered an Evangel store. "Well, we don't know that for certain," I replied.

It's curious though, we both think, that the guy wasn't selling his stuff at a location between Sea-Tac airport and Convention Place. He was in a Northside Safeway parking area, very far away from the airport.

Eventually, I heard of the same stories concerning my aunt and concerning a cousin. They both saw the same guy telling the same story and executing the same scam. I think we all were protected by God because we all were able to escape the bald man in the van. I say that because I can see myself falling for the trick. Clothes for cheap prices? Jewelry for almost nothing? In this crazy world of kidnappings, God still protects us especially when we look out for the concerns of the less fortunate, the widows, the poor, the orphan and the fatherless---a call that is oft-repeated in the Old Testament. Thank you Lord.