It’s good to help people. If anything I wish that I and my church were doing more to help the needy and feed the hungry. But sometimes even trying to help can be scary.As a pastor who lives in a house on church property, people stop by often to ask for help. Food, money, or a place to stay are common requests. Sometimes we can help. Often we can’t.
The problem is, sometimes the people who show up seem a bit scary. You wonder if you can trust them. You wonder if they’re out to scam you or hurt you.
A scary situation like that happened yesterday, when only my wife was home. A woman came to the door and started her visit with a lie. “I moved these boxes onto your step and out of the elements for you.” That was a lie; the FedEx man had put the boxes there. My wife was immediately on her guard.
Then the woman couldn’t understand why the pastor wasn’t home. (I was teaching a Bible class at someone else’s house.) She seemed upset that I wasn’t there. So my wife offered to write down her phone number to have me call her. When my wife went to get paper and a pen, the woman walked into our house and shut the door behind her. Needless to say, my wife was freaked.
Nothing happened, but it certainly scared us about what could happen. We’ll definitely be reevaluating when we even open the door for anyone stopping by from now on.
Oh, and I did call the woman back. She was looking for a large amount of cash to cover a check that her husband had written so it wouldn’t bounce. In return, she’d give me (the church) a check to cover the amount for us to hold onto until they got paid and could cover it.
I can’t say for sure this was a scam, but it sure seemed like one, especially after this woman already proved she wouldn’t hesitate to lie. My church couldn’t help with the cash even if we wanted to.
It was definitely scary and gave us a lot to think about. How can you best help people when you don’t know if you can trust them? Where can someone turn when they are truly in need?
