Sometimes, I wonder what I would do if I found a stranger standing in my house. Yesterday, I found out.
We co-own a small home (cottage) with Julian, my brother from Johannesburg who comes down to Cape Town a couple of times a month. The cottage is situated on a steep hillside with 27 steps up to the front door. We love it! It is on a quiet street with a great view and Julian loves staying there when he comes down. Most people who live in Jo’burg are really security conscious and when they come to Cape Town, they marvel at how laid back and lax many Capetonians are about their home security. Julian is no different and a number of times he has commented on how accessible the cottage is….just walk through the gate, up 27 steps and you are at the front door. He has mentioned more than a few times that he wants a lockable proper gate instead of the little wooden, unlocked gate that quaintly sits at the bottom of the stairs.
Yesterday, all this came to mind when I met a friend for tea at the cottage. As I entered the gate, I had a roomful of thoughts about how I was not going to do anything about this gate until we had decided about some future changes to the cottage.
Tea with my friend was lovely. We had a long conversation and I had pulled up a chair next to her to see something on her tablet. I had my back to the door when she said, ‘there’s someone here for you.’
I turned around to see a man with bright yellow t-shirt standing in the lounge door. My friend thought perhaps he was the gardener. It was about 4pm and made perfect sense that this would be an employee who was on his way out.
But it wasn’t.
This was a complete stranger and he was now standing just inside the door of my lounge.
“Where did you come from?” I asked.
“Upstairs,” he replied.
There is a separate entrance upstairs (more outdoor steps to get there).
David was busy working upstairs. The wind was blowing so we had both heard nothing.
In his hand he carried a loaf of sliced bread. While he looked harmless and unarmed, I was suddenly very nervous of this intruder.
“Why didn’t you knock?” I asked. ” You don’t enter a house without knocking!”
“I’m sorry,” he said.
This was weird.
“What do you want?”
“I want some old clothes.”
“David,” I bellowed.
At my tone, David came rushing downstairs.
“This guy just walked in through the upstairs entrance,” I told him, absolutely stunned at the notion. “He didn’t knock – just entered and walked down the stairs and appeared in the lounge.”
David was as dumbfounded as I.
“Please go outside,” I commanded the man. He walked out the front door, his hand lingering for a moment on the keys.
“Please give me those.”
He handed me the keys and went outside and sat down on the chair on the porch.
David went and found a couple of items of clothing for him and locked the upstairs door. We gave him the clothes, then he wanted butter for his bread, but I could not handle any more requests.
“No,” I said, “I’m sorry, I can’t help you any more.”
“Enkosi! Enkosi!” he said before he ambled back down the steps and I hastily locked the door.
Shew.
That was alarming. I just felt that, while he appeared harmless, anyone who does not knock at a door has evil intent.
Within minutes, I was on the phone to a gate company.
Matthew 10:16
“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
None of us are immune to these things. We trust the Lord in the good times and the bad, in the scary times and the sad.
We give thanks to God that no harm was done and saw it was a clear warning to get the gate!
Keep the smile going.
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂