I'm OK with that.

I am pretty sure I traumatized a little girl last night.   I imagine she went crying to her mother after our encounter.   My new cell phone doesn't have all the settings right and has done some strange things.   Yesterday I sent a text to one of our middle daughters asking her if she made it OK.   She sent back "Who is this?"  I figured my phone had some setting on it or something that kept her from seeing.  I knew she was responding and I had things to do so I would respond in a few minutes.   Less than thirty seconds later she called me.

Me: Hello?
Her: Who is this?
Me: (almost yelling) You mean to tell me you don't recognize the number... and you have no idea who it is... yet you called them?   You know better!  What are you thinking!?
Her: (hangup)

So I look at my phone incredulous.... then I notice the number.   It's not hers.  It's not a number I know at all.  It is the old number she used on her IPOD years ago.  Someone else has it now.  I imagine it was scary to have someone yelling at her through the phone.. this strange girl... this child who is probably a tween or less.   I am sorry.   I am sorry that we live in a world where young children need cell phones that can give them access to strangers and pornography.   I am sorry that there are men out there that will abuse the system and try to get to meet you and do things to you that are much scarier than being yelled at.  I am sorry that you don't know better than to call someone you don't know instead of deleting the message or going to your parents and saying "Hey some strange weirdo is calling me."   I am not sorry that I yelled at you.

Rather I hope you learned something.  I hope you learned that calling someone you don't know is actually dangerous.   That giving out personal information or phone numbers can be as well.   I hope you learned from our encounter.   I hope you do not call people you don't know and don't respond to texts from random strangers... and more importantly I hope you're safe.  I hope none of the things that could happen to you ever do.  And to the parents?  If I yelled at your child?  I hope you comforted her and explained to her all the things I said above.   I hope it was a learning moment for all of us.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."