Hello, friends!
Under normal circumstances, I'd be trying to get you to click on this link here... but these aren't normal times. In the midst of all the craziness happening around the world right now, I thought I'd try to lighten the mood by sharing a story of God's provision and funny timing.
In 2004, I was living the life. I had just finished my Freshman year at WashU (Go Bears!), had an encounter with Jesus, had made a ton of new friends through ACF and the larger IV movement at school, and really was loving life. I'd returned to California that summer in pretty good shape. Plus, I still had the car of my dreams.
For some reason, in highschool, I got it into my head that the VW Bus was the best car in the world. When a guy I knew was selling his, I borrowed money from my parents to buy it. My first car was a 1972 VW Bus, Westfalia Camper style. I had it painted two-tone white and cream, and loved driving that car around.
Was it a good car? Absolutely not. It got 18 mpg highway and probably 12 in the city. It didn't have power steering (or a sound system). After I got in an accident, something got messed up in the wiring and the horn would go off randomly while driving. No, it wasn't a good car... but it was my car.
Alas, all good things must come to an end. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to take The Bus with me to St. Louis, and Phuzz or the Kid wasn't going to drive it, so I needed to sell the Bus. I drove it around the summer before going to school, but now, after my Freshman year, I had a whole summer to sell it. I put up an add on Craigslist and within a few days, got an offer.
Long story short, I got scammed. I was so motivated to sell that I didn't do due diligence, sent money via Western Union to what turned out to be a random bar in Chicago, and ended up filing a police report later after realizing that I'd been scammed. I ended up selling The Bus a few weeks later in person, for much less than I'd wanted.
You may be asking yourself, why I'm telling you this story and how this is a happy story. Read on.
Just a few days ago, I got a call from my dad. He said that some mail had been sent to his house for me from the Justice Department regarding The United States vs. Western Union Company. I knew exactly what it was in reference to, seeing how I'd only ever used Western Union once in my life, but didn't know what the situation was. Apparently, in 2017, I'd been contacted about being part of a class action lawsuit against Western Union for fraudulent practices. I'd figured that there must have been a check in there for a few bucks relating to that suit. I told my dad to open the mail.
His response... "Whoa."
God bless the Federal Trade Commission! Apparently, I'd gotten a full refund as part of a settlement from earlier this month. It was definitely a blessing.
So, what's the lesson? It's definitely not to get scammed now with hopes of getting your money back later. I'm going to go with the lesson that God has a sense of humor, and I'm OK with that.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
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