I arrived on time for the message at the end. It was on Luke 10:25-37.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He
answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A
man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by
robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away,
leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He
went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he
put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of
him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii
and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I
return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Apostle Anthony asked us at the end if we ever wanted to be the man that was robbed. Of course no one wanted to be him. We all wanted to be the good Samaritan. But he also pointed out that sometimes we are the one that is robbed and we have to be able to accept the help from the good Samaritan.
This means that I have to go against my pride and accept that God answers prayers through people.
Today I actually had the opportunity of being the man who was robbed and left for dead. Rogers was my robber! I was checking my cellphone balance today and I noticed that the bill had been paid. I called my other half who shares the contract with me and asked him if he had paid the entire bill. I thought it was a blessing and that he may have done it as a sweet gesture. We usually split it in half.
It turned out it wasn't him. This caused me to be concerned. I knew the only way they would have gotten money was from me. So I checked my banking account and you guessed it. There it was, a Pre-authorized payment for $161 and some change. Now this wouldn't have been a big deal, IF this was actually planned. You see, my phone bill isn't due till the 16th and the only money in my banking account was the money set aside for my rent check that is currently being processed.
INSERT WORRIES:
I had actually cancelled pre-authorized payment back in April, but there was a
glitch in the system and the cancellation never went through. I was unaware of
this until I had called them.
Advice: Never call raging at the people that could potentially help you!
There is a difference between being upset and being angry. Just calmly explain what is taking place and don't let your concern be replaced with rage.
Rogers couldn't refund my money, but the woman did suggest I contact my bank. She also said to call back if my bank couldn't help me and that she would help me find a way out of this.
I then called my bank and spoke with them. I was connected with a really helpful woman, but was then disconnected while on hold. I called back and spoke with another woman.
In the mean time I was praying to God for help. I knew he pulled through once before when something similar occurred when I was living back in California.
She
was awesome, straight to the point and offered me a way around this.
She did an emergency transfer for me, with the $75 in my savings and
asked if there was some way someone could e-transfer me the difference
in my account. Now I'm not going to tell you who God sent, but he sent me a good Samaritan. This person not only was in the process of e-transferring me, but they did it before I had even brought up the idea.
So my rent check was covered. It won't be bouncing!!
"Be still and know that I am God."
Now hopefully I can sell my blackberry curve so I can have some extra skrill after all this. Any takers?