Thursday, November 8, 2007

Watch your kids - especially at church

This is just a little rant, I hope nobody takes it personally.

Although we certainly do not have a problem with this at all at our church - thanks to Pastor Anderson's preaching style - freaks and weirdos are attracted to churches like moths are to the light. After all, you should be nice to people at church, which to a lot of people is synonymous to trusting them, i.e. entrusting them with your children. People who would take advantage of children know that all too well, and come in as wolves in sheep's clothing. This is why our church does not have any ministries or programs where children are separated from their parents. That means no Sunday school, no nurseries, no children's church, Christian school, etc. Children are expected to sit in church quietly with their family, listening to the preaching, and learning. This used to be the norm until the 20th century. We do provide a room for Moms to step out with their infants if they need to, where they can still see and hear without being heard. But the goal is to train kids at a young age to be in church. All three of our older children have made this transition fully by their 1st birthday, and even before that I have rarely had to step out with them.

Why am I saying all of this? Because some unknown freak has been harassing us since the church first started less than 2 years ago. He calls one of our private numbers which is neither published anywhere nor ever given out, and he always asks the same question: "Hello, what time are your Sunday services?" The first time he called I gave him the info, and then answered some more of his questions, and when I got off the phone I thought "I hope this guy never shows up!" His voice sounded like that of a serial killer in a movie I saw long before I got saved - real quiet and creepy. He never did show up, but would call every few weeks, each time with the same question and each time telling me they had just moved into the area a couple of weeks ago. He would ask about children in our church, and other detailed questions about their lives, their names and ages, and how their parents raised them. He would always end the call by assuring me "I'll see you on Sunday!" Of course, I never did give this guy any of the information he was trying to get about the children in our church. The third or fourth time he called I started to just dish the guy off with a quick answer about the service time, and then asking: "Haven't you called before?", in response to which he would quickly hang up. Needless to say, his calls were private calls and his number withheld. After a few of those calls I finally told him he had the wrong number and hung up on him, since he is actually calling my husband's business number, not the church. Well, he called again today and asked his same question about the Sunday services in the same creepy way, to which I replied "Don't you ever dare call again, you freaking pervert!" and hung up.

There, you have it. I am not loving, and I am judgmental. Worse yet, if the guy ever does show up I will have a couple of our men remove him from the premises immediately. And if he shows up at YOUR church, you should do the same.

9 comments:

  1. That is scary!!! Maybe you should get a "private numbers blocked", on your phones. That way he would have to identify his number and you could trace it. Maybe even threaten, we know where you are and who you are and are calling the police.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah, I was thinking about doing that this week. I'm not scared by the guy at all, just annoyed. I sleep very peacefully with a gun beside the bed.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Maybe it's someone you know if the number is not published anywhere.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What anonymous mentioned is scary too.

    ReplyDelete
  5. wow, that is strange. Really would bother me that someone would constantly call like that when he obviously knows you know it's him.

    What is wrong with people! It's probably some nutty left wing liberal gay man with a bone to pick.

    I'd say he needs to get a life. Make sure you have a security alarm in your house because you don't want to have any problems. My husband being on the road so much I always keep my gun under my matress by my pillow. I'll do anything to protect my children.

    Keep safe! And if he calls again call the police department and have them trace the calls.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Be careful having a gun beside your bed with the kids!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I think this same guy has called me, too! Asking about the church, saying they just moved to the area, then starting to ask some personal child-rearing-type questions.

    At first I thought, it was just strange, but then you know it's something more.

    As soon as I called him on it, he hung up and I haven't heard from him since.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I definitely do not think that this post is for anyone personally! What a creep!! Keep that gun by your bed!! :)

    ReplyDelete

Your KINDLY WORDED, constructive comments are welcome, whether or not they express a differing opinion. All others will be deleted without second thought.