Stranger Danger

Can't get much stranger than us.

We have been teaching our kids about "Stranger Danger".  It's a good thing to do.  It's in the parenting handbook. (What?  Your kids didn't come with a handbook?  That's too bad for you.)
 

Anyway, after a long car ride where we had an in-depth discussion about talking to strangers, we finally arrived at the grocery store.  I tossed Ava and Isaac into the cart and off we went to gawk at all the wonders of Walmart.

Within minutes, two elderly women approached.  They began to pet the kids on the head and strike up conversation. "Well, you two are just the cutest things!  Are you helping your mama today?"

All the while, I'm smiling.  Inside I'm thinking, "no wonder these little old ladies are making a fuss over my sweet children.  Their adorable!  They take after their mother."  I grin and turn to the kids awaiting their angelic replies.       

Stone cold silence.

The kids refuse to answer.  So, the second granny gives it a try.  "I bet you're big helpers, aren't you?  Do you help your mommy?"

Nothing.  

Now they're both deliberately avoiding direct eye contact with the blue-hairs.  Each one of them have a death grip on the cart, white knuckles and clenched fist.  Suddenly it dawns on me why their acting so odd.  These old biddies are strangers.  I've just told them that strangers want to steal them and chop them up into little pieces.  (I have a tendency to be slightly dramatic, especially when I'm trying to make a point.)  They really were convinved that these sweet little geezers were gonna beat them with their canes then drive off with them tied to their Jazzy scooters. 

Needless to say, I had to make an addendum to the "don't talk to strangers" rule.

When I think about it, we're all strangers.  Some of us are just stranger than others!  Just the other day, Isaac was talking about heaven.  He's excited to get there.  He says that he misses Jesus, and he hopes that God will make him a brick house in heaven.  Even as a little boy, Isaac is beginning to realize that he's a stranger in this world.  Heaven is his real home.

I wish I had his insight.  Even though I like to think about heaven, I really have a hard time picturing it.  The bible says that we are aliens and strangers in this world.  But sometimes I feel like my green card to earth overrides my citizenship in heaven.  

This is a problem because I AM a stranger here.  God doesn't want me to be satisfied with my temporary living arrangement.  I'm merely passing through.  This is just a business trip, I've got work to do.  When I'm finished here He's got me booked on the next flight home!  

When I'm no longer homesick for heaven, my life no longer has purpose.  Now that's the real stranger danger.