BEHIND THE SONG "STRANGERS"

Posted By: Justin Unger - 01-31-11

- All I used to think about when the word “stranger” came to my mind was the scary ice cream man that used to drive down our street every tuesday afternoon. You know, the one that played the out of tune intercom blaring the very non-repetitive song “It’s A Small World After All.”  Yikes!!.  However, yes you would still find myself and my two brothers running up to the big blue van with our allowance money on occasion to get a cool afternoon treat in our little Phoenix AZ. neighborhood.  I can still hear my sweet mother reminding us that there is a “stranger danger” behind the wheel. 
    Ok, maybe there is a stereotype for ice cream truck drivers and he was truly just a nice old guy who loved kids and needed the summer job to pay the bills.  I bring all this up because, like a lot of people, I always have associated the word “stranger,” with something negative.  But once again as I get to know our mysterious God more through His word, I am enlightened and somewhat caught off guard as I read 1 Peter 2:11-12. It says “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lust which wage war against the soul.  Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.” (NAS)