A Five Dollar Armani Suit Coat

It was 1996, and I needed to get a large suit to use as a prop for a message that I was going to preach in a couple of days. My intention was to wear shoulder pads and pillows to look like I had bulked up. The title of my message was; “Keeping Your Spirit In Shape” from 2 Timothy2:1-22; which deals with growing strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Cathy and I went to the local Goodwill store to look for an extra large suit coat. While looking for the suit, Cathy said that she found one that I should try on. I tried on the suit coat that she gave me and it fit perfectly. Cathy told me that we should take this suit coat because it fit me so well and the price was only nine dollars. But, I told her; “I’m looking for an extra large suit coat. This suit coat fits me and so I won’t be able to wear it over shoulder pads and pillows”. So I went looking for a larger suit coat; which I did find and made my way to the cashier.

Just before we got to the cashier, Cathy showed me why she thought that we should get the first suit coat as well as the extra large one. Inside of the suit coat was a tag that informed me that it was a brand new Giorgio Armani double breasted men's suit jacket and it still had the original price tag from Macy’s attached to the sleeve.

When the cashier rang up our items, she stopped at the Armani and said; “This suit is priced wrong; there is no way that this suit should be nine dollars.” Cathy and I realized that they had discovered their error and would now charge us at least a couple of hundred for the suit. The cashier went on the tell us; “For nine dollars you are supposed to get a pair of pants with it. There is no way that I can charge you nine. I will let you have it for five dollars.”

We promptly paid the cashier and went home delighted at how the Lord provided us a brand new suit coat for one tenth the cost.