A Child Was Missing

This evening I went out to go to the store across the street and ran into one of our tenants with her boyfriend.  They have an 18 month old baby and the baby wasn't with them, which was unusual.  The mom said that the baby was with her Dad, which is also not unusual.  However, her Dad said he'd be back in 45 minutes and it had been almost 3 hours.

My immediate thought that something might have happened to her Dad, who is 80 years old, and that she should call the police to help look for them.  She said she was going to wait another 15 minutes and she was trying to stay calm.  I understand her desire to stay calm but my concern was that with every minute that passed, if something had happened to her Dad or if someone had taken the baby, the police were losing time finding him.

There is a carnival going on across the street so I told the baby's father that I was going over there to look for them.  As I was coming back, I saw the mother with the baby's stroller and her Dad following behind.  I caught up to them and she said she had just read her Dad the riot act about taking the baby for so long without calling her.

I'm very glad things turned out the way they did but this is not the '60's, it is 2011 and this is Los Angeles where there is a very high crime rate and many pedophiles throughout the city.  I sometimes wonder if some of these parents ever watch the news or pay attention to what goes on in the world around them.

Maybe I've just seen and heard too much and I am immediately alarmed when someone cannot find a child or when I find a child and no parent around.  People don't seem to get that the world we live in is not safe for a child to be wandering around in by themselves.  Not even for a minute.

I prayed for this little boy to come home alright and I give God the praise that he did come home safely.