My husband and I went on a train trip. It was his birthday present from me per his request. The train was in Bryson City, N.C. It traveled along the Tuckasegee River to a tiny town named Dillsboro, with quaint little shops to investigate. The whole trip took about 4 1/2 hours. The train trip took us by the prison bus and wrecked train from the movie, The Fugitive, starring Harrison Ford. Our tour guide let us know this was the last actual staged train wreck ever done and now all train wrecks are computer-generated in movies.

The Train.

The inside of the car we rode in.

Our departure time was 1:00 p.m. When we arrived back to the station, it was almost 6:00 p.m. and everyone cleared out fast.

I was driving and knew that I would never make the 3 1/2 hour drive home without coffee, so we walked up to the main street of the town and I found a coffee shop. My husband doesn’t like coffee so he waited outside.

Now here is where my story gets interesting…

In the coffee shop, there was one family with a couple of kids, a mom, and dad in line. Then me. It seemed to be taking a long time to get everyone’s order. Two girls worked at the counter… one on the cash register, the other filling orders. The one filling orders offered to bring the dad his tea and ushered the family over to a table by the window. She began to prepare the tea.

That left the younger of the two alone at the cash register. Someone else came in and got in line behind me, but I never turned around.

I kept looking at the girl at the register wondering why she didn’t offer to take my order. She was staring out the front window, shuffling her feet nervously, and looking over at the other girl as she placed the tea on the table for the dad. She never acknowledged me standing there.

I thought, That’s weird, what’s wrong with her? She acts like she don’t know what’s she doing. Why isn’t she even offering to take my order? Maybe she’s new and doesn’t really know what she’s doing.

I finally stepped closer to her, and asked, “Are you able to take my order?”

She gave a nervous laugh, glanced back toward the window, and said, “Sure.”

She took my order. I paid. Everything went back to normal and she actually seemed to know what she was doing.

I left and went outside to meet my husband.

On the way home he told me what he saw from his location on the street and I realized, the barista was seeing the same thing which accounted for her strange behavior.

Outside, where my husband was, three young guys came down the street. Three girls were with them. Two of the guys had large knives strapped to one side of them and a gun strapped to the other side. One of the guys had a holster on his back with his gun stuck in it. He also had a knife strapped to his side.

They stopped outside the coffee shop and were looking in, when a couple old enough to be their parents called to them from a white van parked haphazardly in front of the shop. They went over, got in the van, and left.

I asked my husband if they looked like they had evil intent, or maybe just liked to walk around with weapons. He said they looked “deadfaced”, meaning.. your face looks blank.. you’re showing no emotion. He said two of the girls with them had the same look, but one was a little more animated.

As I thought on all these things, I think about the poor girl working in the coffee shop. She was afraid and I was oblivious. I just wanted my coffee.

From the sounds of it, all of us were in danger for a moment. I was oblivious.

I am so glad for God’s protection, even when we don’t know we are in need of protection.

What stopped those guys from coming into the shop?

What made the older couple call to them to come get in the van?

Who were these people?

Were they related?

Were they in a gang?

I’ll never know the answer to any of those questions. I was protected by being oblivious.

I stumbled across these verses a few days ago as I was reading early in the morning…

“For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?” 1 Peter 3:12-13

I am grateful for the eyes of the Lord being over me and not allowing harm to me or the others in the coffee shop. I’m grateful that He kept me looking forward and never turning around to see what the barista was seeing. I’m grateful He kept my husband safe out on the street.

There is no fear when you are trusting God.

And… after all of that when we got home, even though it was late and we could barely keep our eyes open, we had to watch The Fugitive once more. There were a great many scenes filmed in Bryson City and Dillsboro in the movie. It was exciting to watch for them.

Have you been in a situation where you were totally oblivious and later realized God saved you from something that could have been really bad?