Skip to main content

Scam!

 Scams are inviting and enticing. They promise you one thing and deliver another thing. You hear an enticing story only to discover later that the tale wasn't quite what it seemed. 

Years ago, I was taken by something similar to a scam. Though the game was legitimate and promoted by a famous cracker company, it left me with a taste of deception in my mouth. It went like this. 

Each box of crackers had one or more words of the following phrase inside the box, "Win $10,000 a month for life!" Like I mentioned, if you completed the sentence, you got the cash. It sounded SO GOOD! 

My mom had bought a scam and didn't know about it. As mentioned, it was a legitimate competition, but I had overthought about the winning phrase. I assumed that that combination would be "For Life!" 

We were into our second box of crackers when I saw that fantastic phrase stamped on the inside bottom of the container. My jaw dropped, my eyes glazed over, and my heart raced, and I suddenly had an insatiable hunger for crackers! 

I ran to the store and bought TEN boxes of the delicious morsels. I had no appetite for crackers; I just wanted ten grand a month for life as I tore the boxes open and ripped the plastic sacks from them to see the other parts of the "Win $10,000 a month for life!" key to my happiness. 

At about box number eight, my hopes were dashed as I saw the words "For Life!" once again. There and then, I learned a great lesson. Scams, whether real or not, have a way of fooling you so much that you can't see the truth. 

I imagine that this is kind of how Joshua and crew felt as the Gibeonites told their tale of whoa. They were a nation in the path of destruction as the children of Israel's army approached. They were afraid and too small to fight, so they made up a whopper of a story to avoid pending elimination. 

You can read the account in Joshua 9. The text is a mere twenty-seven verses, but the lesson is this, always ask God for his direction. Don't depend on your understanding (Proverbs 3:5,6 come to mind). Even though the treaty was foolish and made without consulting God, he still provided the victory. However, there were consequences to pay in the future. So, trust the Lord with all of your heart and don't lean on what you think. As you do, God will guide every step. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Daughter and dog...

About six months ago we discovered that Ann was pregnant and were very excited for she and Jackson. We will have babies on this side and that of the Atlantic. We weren't prepared for that news and we we were even less prepared for the news that our little dog is pregnant. To date we have spent more on the dog than on Annie (don't tell her... Ann that is). Ann has yet to discover whether her baby is a boy or girl. Both ultrasound images were inconclusive. Though I did some further investigation of my own and was startled with what I found. to me it looks as if the baby is definitely a boy and has some resemblance from both sides of the family. Take a look for yourself and let me know what you think.
3 comments
Read more

God’s Orchestration

I love to see the Lord work His Salvation miracles. His works are Master Pieces of sweet music. They are arrangements that only He can make happen. Two weeks ago I began my second attempt at cello lessons. I had tried the instrument about five years ago and found my fingers so rusty and decrepit that I had given up after just a few months. So, why my second go? Here’s one short and sweet story. There is a youg man that works with Alexandre at school. He teaches music and is a musical genius. At sixteen he began a city wide music program to train young musicians in Sorocaba. Recently he has worked with two deaf children and has been able to teach them to play violin using a method that he developed. There doesn’t seem to be an instrument that he cannot play. His seventeen year old wife also plays the flute and is studying nursing. They are a very young but very sharp couple. In a conversation after the recent Recital Junior convinced me that it would be a good idea for me to take up...
Post a Comment
Read more

Abs of Steel with Glasses

Have you ever wondered why Clark Kent always took his glasses off before he turned into Superman? I hadn’t ever thought about it either until this last Saturday when I almost got sucker-punched. Wellington, one of my spunky Juniors, wanted to wrestle. He feigned a punch to my gut and I said, “Go ahead. I have abs of steel!” I think that my gym visits might be going to my head because my abs of steel are buried under a healthy layer of blubber. I have improved my six-pack but it is far from chiseled. It looks more like a quarter of a keg. Anyway, quick as a wink and with near lightening speed Wellington said, “Yeah but up here is made of glass!” as his poke went within a hair’s breadth of my glasses! I belly-laughed. His rapid reflexes and wit had caught me by surprise. And what he said was so true and funny. It was an excellent though brief lesson. I often prepare for an oncoming fray. I get ready, set and then “BLAM”! The proverbial punch comes from a totally different direction. ...
Post a Comment
Read more