Friday a woman came in to the church office. She said she was here in town to look at TU law school and had lost her wallet in an airport en route. She had this wild-eyed look and smelled like cigarette smoke. She was asking for a room for a couple of nights and some money for food. We don't give money out. Too many people try to take advantage of the church. Not only do we want to be good stewards of God's money that our people give, but we also don't want to empower people who often use that money in hurtful ways. When I tried to suggest some other options (Salvation Army, the Day Center) she said 'Oh no. I need to talk to the pastor.' and walked out of my office. I said 'Alex, come back in here.', at which she was indignant, being talked to like that. I said 'You don't have to talk to the pastor because I'm the one who's going to make this decision and you're not going to bother him on his day off.'. I said we could get her a cab if she wanted to go somewhere else, but she refused, left, and went out to the street and stopped a car and rode off.

I hate this kind of situation. But in my line of work, I have a lot of experience with it. And, unfortunately, I've been taken in a number of times. I don't mind the money lost, so much as I don't like to be deceived.