I had a bizarre encounter on Saturday. Can I share it with you?

I enjoyed a pleasant morning with a friend, then set out to pick up a few groceries.  I entered the parking lot of the nearest grocery store, and pulled into an available spot. All quite normal up to this point, right?

Stay with me…

Before exiting the car, I took a moment to open the banking app on my cell. Just a quick check to see if I needed to transfer funds. To my dismay, the internet connection spun so many times, it made me dizzy. I decided to wait for a moment, then try it again.

Meanwhile, I noticed a blue truck pulling into the space directly facing me. A middle-aged women exited the driver’s side, but oddly, she left the door standing wide open. Next thing I knew, she was heading towards my car.

She made a beeline for my driver’s side window, so I hit the button, allowing the glass between us to slide down.

Thinking she either had the wrong person, or perhaps she wanted to ask me a question, I waited.

But she didn’t say anything.

Instead, she held up a small silver camera, and appeared to be video taping me. Yes, you read that correctly.

Not being accustomed to seeing paparazzi in the grocery store parking lot, and unaware of my seemingly celebrity status, I was completely baffled. Shocked even.

I tried conversing, but she wasn’t interested. She may have mumbled something, but honestly,  I cannot recall.

Then as mysteriously as she had arrived, she turned to leave.

Don’t try this at home, but I felt compelled to get out of the car.  I needed to know why.

Why?

I actually tried flagging her down, hoping we could talk. Yes, for whatever reason, I didn’t want the encounter to end this way.

But my efforts were to no avail. I stood there as she pulled away, still videotaping me as I waved goodbye. OK, now I was the one with the bizarre behavior.

After she left,  I remembered something:

Before pulling into the grocery store, I had made a right turn at the red light.  This is perfectly legal, however, there was a vehicle already in the intersection attempting a u-turn. That vehicle had the right-of-way, and guess you could say, I was in the wrong-of-way.

Could that be it? Could this women be the person who made that u-turn? I couldn’t be certain, but it seemed to fit.

After she left, I was a bit shaken. I decided to leave the area and head to the grocery store closer to home. The entire way there, I prayed about the bizarre encounter with this woman.

I surrendered the disturbing feelings to God,  feelings of being violated, bullied, and harassed.

Not only that, I prayed for her too.

God allows things to happen for a purpose, and  we may never know why.

Maybe before this encounter, nobody else was praying for her.

Maybe that’s why.

What did I learn?

• As strange as it was, it wasn’t personal. She didn’t know me, and I didn’t know her. She directed her anger at me, but she was really angry with my action. She had an unacceptable reaction to my action.
• No amount of prayer is too much. We need to bathe ourselves in prayer, and pray for others too. We never know what our day will bring, but God does. Let’s pray for His direction in our every step. In praying that way most mornings, I have to believe driving into that parking lot was no accident.
• There will always be people in this world who will choose evil over good, road rage over grace. As the Word says, let’s not repay evil with evil, but give a blessing instead. I could have retaliated, but what good would it do? What good does it do, when we become like them, and unlike Christ?
• There may have been times, we have been like them. Sometimes we’ve lost it, so forgiveness is applicable in all situations. She’s my neighbor. I don’t have to condone her actions, but I’m still called to love and forgive her.
• The Lord fights our battles. It’s a battlefield out there, but we can armor up. The enemy may try to attack, but we can trust our God has our back.

I pray someone will have the opportunity to speak to this woman, and that a seed can be planted, then watered.

Will you join me in praying for her?

Wouldn’t it be crazy if her camera wasn’t even rolling?

What similar experiences have you encountered?  Please share them, and any thoughts on this bizarre encounter in the comments.