So, a gentleman comes to the front desk and asks to speak with the pastor. When he is brought into my office he begins telling me the sob story beyond sob stories. His mother is dying of cancer on the other side of the country and he dropped everything to be at her side. He walked off his job, grabbed a few pieces of clothing from his apartment and started driving. Well here he is, 500 miles from home and 1,000 miles from his mom and he has no money. Now, he's got a friend who runs a motel about 50 miles further down the road and his friend will give him a discount. (Why the friend wouldn't just give him a room for the night he didn't explain). He wants me to give him $50 for the motel room. Gosh, I confide, I haven't got $50, maybe I could call his friend and see if I could talk him into giving my new pal a room for free. Oh, he exclaims, his friend isn't working today. Well, I tell him, I haven't got $50 but I'll keep him in my prayers.
Wait! He tells me that his wife and kids are in the car and they haven't had anything to eat since they left home. Maybe I have $20 so they can get some food. Fast on my feet, I think about some leftovers I have in the fridge. I invite him to bring them in and we'll make them some sandwiches. Oh, he exclaims, they're a bit down the road at the truck stop because the car ran out of gas and he walked to the Church (and passed 3 other along the way by my calculation).
I offer to send our maintenance man to the truck stop and bring his family to the church so that we can feed them and he tells me that his family wouldn't go with someone else because he had told them to lock the doors in the car...
When I suggest that I'm out of options and don't think there's any way I can help him he starts the "I thought you were a Christian" argument.
Yes, I am. And you sir? What do you call yourself?
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