Stranger Danger!
My sister (Meg) watches the nightly news with her husband. There has been a recent influx of child abductions via the old stranger with candy gimmick. So, being the responsible older sister that she is, Meg came home and quizzed our seven-year-old brother Joseph.
Meg: Joseph, do you know what “Stranger Danger” means?
Joe: Obviously… strangers are dangerous.
Meg: Ok… do you know what to do if a stranger offers you candy?
Joe: Ummmmm… TAKE THE CANDY AND RUN!!!!
While the conclusion he came to caused me and my siblings to fall into fits of laughter, had we found out his misconception of what to do in that situation via his being snatched… well, let’s just say that our response would have been less giggly.
As I went to bed last night, I thought about Joseph’s statement and our response… and I thought about my sin and the “stranger with the candy”… and then I thought about those brothers and sisters who might be snatched by a stranger because I laugh at their temptations instead of showing them the sobering picture of what taking candy from the stranger will cause.
So…
What’s your candy?
Who’s your brother/sister, and do you know what their candy is?
Do you/they know the appropriate response to stranger danger?
(note: these are just things to think about… I don’t really want/need to know what your “candy” is)
I Corinthians 10:14 (the message) So, my very dear friends, when you see people reducing God to something they can use or control, get out of their company as fast as you can.
I Timothy 6:11-12 (the message) But you, Timothy, man of God: Run for your life from all this. Pursue a righteous life-a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses.
II Timothy 2:22 (kjv) Shun youthful lusts and flee from them, and aim at and pursue righteousness (all that is virtuous and good, right living, conformity to the will of God in thought, word, and deed); [and aim at and pursue] faith, love, [and] peace (harmony and concord with others) in fellowship with all [Christians], who call upon the Lord out of a pure heart