The Good Las Vegan
Late one Sunday afternoon a young woman was traveling from Los Angeles to Las Vegas for the holiday weekend. As she traveled she noticed her engine light was on and stopped in the city of Baker to have it checked. The mechanic, seeing an opportunity to make a profit, concocted a story about a problem with the young woman’s piston regulator. He sold her a $50 bottle of oil and a new filter and sent her on her way. Although he did nothing to her engine, he mentioned to her that the light would turn itself off in the miles to come as the oil passed through the car’s system. Before long the oil warning light appeared and the temperature gauge rose; and the young woman’s car then overheated. Power steering malfunctioned as smoke began to creep from the engine and in an attempt to quickly pull her car over to the shoulder; she ran it into a ditch. Her car came to a stop just below a road sign that read “Jean, Nevada, 50 miles.” Below the road marker was a handmade sign that had “Last chance for gas!” handwritten in red paint.
The woman was not badly injured, but had managed to twist her ankle quite severely. She knew that walking the great distance to Jean would be impossible. Her cell phone was on its last bar of battery life and showing no sign of reception. Time passed slowly and she found herself very hungry. Her phone eventually beeped its last and turned itself off, and she resigned herself to misery, sobbing against her steering wheel, with smoke still pouring from the hood of her car.
It happened that the youth pastor from that woman’s church was on the 15 freeway at the same time – he was carrying the high school group to Lake Mead for a water-ski trip. When he saw the young woman’s car he shifted to the left lane and sped past her, as he was already behind schedule.
As it got later into the evening, the young woman still hadn’t eaten and was beginning to feel weak. Soon a missionary on furlough that was traveling that way spotted her and seeing her distress he thought about helping her. Before pulling over he decided that being seen alone on a dark roadside with a woman might compromise his moral integrity and passed her by, murmuring a prayer as he passed.
Late that night a male exotic dancer, still covered in sequins from his late night shift at a men’s cabaret saw the woman’s car. He was traveling in the opposite direction of the woman after his long shift. He swerved his car around and parked behind her on her side of the road.
He got out of his car and walked to where the young woman was. And when he saw her, he took pity on her. “Hey shuga” he said “Ya okay?”. He used his first aid kit to bandage her wounds and treat her pain. Then he helped the young lady into his car, took her to his room at The Mirage where he took care of her. The next day he gave a generous tip to the concierge. “Look after her,” he said, “Whatever she needs goes right on my tab and I’ll cova whateva’ extra that comes to.”
Which of these three do you think was a Christian to the young woman who fell victim to the dishonest business practices?”