“Let no one deceive you by any means.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3

I’d been scammed! But the lady on the phone had been SO very nice! We had airline tickets and a plan to take a trip in October. Things happen, and we decided to adjust the timing. Looking up the airline I saw the 800 # and the caption, ‘answer within 5 minutes!’ The LAST time I had to deal with them, I was on the phone for over 45! So I hit dial.. and ‘nice lady’ introduced herself!

I didn’t have my glasses on. The large letters were readable. The lady had access to the airline’s information and even sent me changes in the schedule from the airline’s website. When she told me the cost to change the flights, I almost fainted! Same trip… 3 less days… $900 MORE! Having been a salesman most of my career, I should have known when she asked, “How much you wanna spend?”

It all went well, or so it seemed, until I went to dinner and the machine declined my card! But my trust in ‘nice lady,’ especially after 35 minutes on the phone with her, never wavered. After a text message, I looked up my credit card account and saw charges made by a company I didn’t know. I called… and yes… I was in the process of being scammed!! My evening was spent on the phone!

I feel stupid and embarrassed. My wife hadn’t done a thing, but because it’s her account too, she’s involved. So I am still working on trying to fix this situation with as little loss as possible. But there WILL be loss. And all because I really wasn’t paying CLOSE attention to what I was doing. I KNEW better, I just didn’t ACT like I did! A common problem among humans who happen to be sinners.

Pain is a pain. Regret is the same. But I am a child of God by faith in Christ Jesus. That does NOT guarantee me ANY kind of special treatment on this earth. All kinds of bad stuff happens to me just the same. Sometimes, even MORE. But as I shared with a fellow believer yesterday, EVERYTHING we go through can be, and IS used by God to teach and benefit us down the road. Even pain and regret.

So I’m in ‘Scam Class 101’ today. And I’m paying attention to make sure I pay attention the NEXT time something like this comes up. God tells us to learn, act, be careful and to follow Him. He gives us His Word, Spirit and fellow Believers to learn from. But He does NOT guarantee I will not be scarred. In fact… scars always come along with being His Warrior!

Have YOU been scarred or scammed? Are you learning and leaning on The Master? Because there’s another scar or scam coming… right around the corner! You’ve just been warned!