The Square Peg

My friend Chris’s Facebook account was hacked today. I signed on this morning to see his status update listed as ”NEEDS HELP URGENTLY”. I thought that was odd and wondered what it meant. And then ”Chris” IM’d me. Here’s how it went down (baseball umpire style):

“Chris”: hello

(Swing & a miss, strike 1! I know Chris and he would’ve said “hey” or something cool and hip, not “hello”.)

me: hey, stranger. how’s life?

“Chris”: why do you say stranger?

(Steeee-rike 2! Chris would’ve known since we haven’t seen each other in a month of Sundays)

me: because I haven’t seen you in forever

“Chris”: I’m in London

(He. Is. Outta here!)

me: Bullshit; this isn’t Chris.

(Yes, I actually wrote that. I figure since God read my response and knows I cussed, I might as well be real with you.)

“Chris”: what?

me: Lemme guess; you need $, right?

“Chris”: why do you say it’s not me?

me: Your village just called; they want their idiot back. Now go away.

Following our chat, the poser IM’d several other Facebook friends and told them he was robbed at gunpoint in London and needed money to get back home.

After I updated my status warning people about it, I got to thinking…what if I hadn’t known Chris as well as I do? I might’ve believed the poser’s lie and fallen for a scam.

And then I wondered how many times I’ve fallen for lies from the enemy (poser) because I didn’t know God’s character. And I thought about how important it is that we know Him.

Know Him so we don’t believe the lies that tell us we are:

• worthless
• unloved
• unwanted

Know Him so we know:

• what love really is
• where He’s working
• how to help (don’t spectate; participate!)

Know Him so we won’t be fooled by persuasive deceivers. Because knowing about Him isn’t enough.