A Strange TwistABOUT 9:30 a.m. my phone rang. “I’ve found your business card and $21 in front of Walmart.”
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A STRANGE TWIST Reverend Dean Kavouras, Chaplain Cleveland Division Safety Forces Federal Bureau of Investigation ABOUT 9:30 a.m. my phone rang. “I’ve found your business card and $21 in front of Walmart.” I thought, This has to be a hoax, something’s not right; I haven’t been to Walmart in more than a week. “Thank you, but just keep it,” I told the man. “I’m 45 minutes away, and you’d have to wait too long.” Then I got suspicious; was he trying to set me up for a robbery? I spoke to a detective who heads up a robbery detail in that district. He said to call the man back, and see if we could meet in a couple of hours. When he said yes, the detective and I were even more convinced. I put on a “wire,” drove there in my car with a detective following, and a marked car some distance behind us. Nearing the meeting place, I called the man, who directed me to his pickup truck. When I arrived he exited his vehicle, and handed me the money, business card, and a bank deposit slip! I was surprised, but still suspicious. I thanked him, offered a reward (which he declined), and left. As he was leaving, the marked car pulled him over, ran his information, and found he was clean. But why was my card with that money? My plan was to go to the bank marked on the deposit slip, find out whose money it was, and return it. When I wrote my next chaplain’s report, which goes to many people, I mentioned the incident. Funny thing, the money belonged to one of my readers! A pastor I’d just met had been to Wal-mart. On leaving the store, he accidentally dropped his bank deposit slip with my card and the $21. The money was his! After he read my report he sent this email: “You won’t believe this, but the money is mine! Do with it as you may, but that is amazing! You gave me your card yesterday!”
My first call was to the man who had returned it. He was as amazed as I, and relieved that our suspicions had been cleared up. Even more amazing, he had been laid off from his job, badly needed the money, waited two-and-one-half hours to return it and wouldn’t take a reward. Then we stopped him and eyed him as a potential criminal! The Scripture says, “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). I do not know this man’s relationship with God, but I do know his heart! | |
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