You Know, They WARNED Me. . .

. . about MySpace, but I really had no proof that the warnings were true until yesterday.

See, bein of the "Can't beat 'em? Run off and hide" crowd, I hate and eschew online communities, but somebody's always invitin me to join somethin or other. (I'm lookin at you, Christina and Ranuel.)

But it seems like I'm raisin a coupla joiners. Goobs, for example, wanted a MySpace page. The very thought raised my hackles (my total ignorance* notwithstanding). I talked to my pastor (yes, the one I bother when I want a Father POV) about it, and he said as long as I had the password to Goobs' page, I shouldn't worry: I'd have creative control. Ran this past Goobs, and she was agreeable. I also got my own page. We've had pages for a few years, now, and neither of us has had any weirdness. Well, one total stranger contacted me with some assumptions about me, but he was merely annoying. And summarily blocked. (Gotta love that "block" option.)

Yesterday, though, I was approached by a strange 19yo who wrote, "Hey! how r u? I kno ur alot older than me but, i found u attractive. and i have a foot fetish and wus wondering wat color r ur toes painted? if u aint mind?"

I laughed until the dogs were frightened and Goobs said, "It's not that funny, Mommy" (her standard evaluation when I'm laughin).

Christina and I discussed our respective "toe paint" color, but Christina urged me not to "be cruel."

Another friend and I played with the idea of playin with him, but she finally said, sadly, ". . . . folks are too crazy to have fun."

Yet another friend said, "Hey, young brother might hook you up girl!!!!"
(She's the one with Priorities.)

I took Goobs' advice: "Go look at his page!"

Never take a 14yo, fellow MySpacer's advice about other MySpacers. Toe-Color Boy had a scary, scary page: large scenes from SAW IV; thonged butts for which no thongs had clearly been imagined; a half-naked MySpace friend who called herself "The Black [really, really white movie-star icon]"; rap music; red and black background. And there was Toe-Color Boy himself, staring intently, intently into his PC camera. Now, y'all ain never read me use this adjective, but the word demonic hovered in the front of my mind. I clicked immediately on the word block. And immediately, my heart smote me.

Y'all can (and do) call me crazy if you like, but I do not believe in coincidence. I believe God manifests in every circumstance; I believe every encounter is an opportunity to manifest the God in me. After blockin that child, it occurred to me that TCB's expression wasn't necessarily "intent." Maybe it was just a searching expression. Like all of us, this child was looking for something. So I unblocked him.

First I threw a "LOL" at him for making me laugh so hard. (Till the day I die, I will deeply appreciate every one of my ROTFLAGL** moments. Laughter comes from God; it's The Big O of the spirit.)

Second, I dropped him a little note.***

THEN I blocked him.

Dear Jesus, my Brother, teach us to grab every opportunity to make somebody laugh.

*Since when has total ignorance kept anybody from makin and expressin an opinion?
**Rolling On The Floor, Laughing And Gathering Lint. Bethany's.
***Because all sane people appreciate it when somebody's prayin for 'em (and tellin 'em, "Jesus wouldn't want you obsessin over butts and SAW IV, baby").