Not Too Old & Frumpy To Be Safe (#FMF)

Yesterday, my child, NoNut, and I were returning home from the best week at the beach and stopped for lunch and gas on the way home. After lunch, I drove next door to an Exxon that was literally right off I40W in Johnston County, North Carolina. It was surrounded by fast food places, other gas stations, and stores so it was in a highly populated area. There was nothing secluded about this gas station.

I pulled in and noticed two creepy looking men in a pickup truck at the pump ahead of me but on the other side. They were done getting gas and so I figured they were leaving and I was probably being paranoid and stereotyping and almost dismissed these men. However, something made me do a double look and I told NoNut to stay in the van and I locked all the doors. As I started pumping gas, I had this growing sense of urgency.

I got back in the van because I noticed the men kept staring at us and they weren't leaving. I noticed a couple guys selling Fit 4 Life stuff a few feet away at the Exxon door and 2-3 other cars at the pumps to the right of us, so we weren’t alone, but I kept assessing the situation because something felt off as those men still sat there and stared at us. I reminded NoNut to stay in the van unaware that he had already noticed the "suspicious men" (as he later called them) and was watching them, too. As I got out to return nozzle back to the pump in record time, I noticed the passenger getting out of that truck and he was starting to walk towards us.

As I opened my door to get in the van, the man started calling for me, “Ma’am! Ma’am!” I jumped in and locked doors and started the van while he was still hollering “Ma’am!" He hobbled over with his cane and hit my front left tire with his cane and yelled, “There is something wrong with your tire!” I was inwardly freaking out because all the Facebook warnings came to mind about this tactic (I even just read/posted an article the day before about a mother and daughter at a rest area that put me more on alert while traveling home).

I pulled forward to drive around the man but he walked in front of van even more so I couldn’t go around him without hitting him. He hollered again that there is something wrong with my tire and he was waving at me to get out and look. By that time, I was already reversing the van while he was hollering again and pointing to my tire! I just got new tires a couple weeks ago and the van was riding/sounding fine so I knew my tire was fine but what if it wasn’t?! I knew I had to get out of there and worry about the tire later.

I flew out of the gas station but got stuck at the light just outside of the gas station. Meanwhile, NoNut is watching the man walk fast (not hobbling like he originally was) to the far side of station and then walk back to his truck. I stopped at a nearby Auto Zone to look at my tire and my tire was perfectly fine!! By the time we passed back by the gas station two minutes later to get back on the interstate, the men were gone! I didn’t call the police because I didn’t even know the exact name of the town we were in nor could remember the exact exit number we took (downside to relying solely on GPS than road signs) plus the men were gone.

All I could do was thank God for His protection and gut feelings! I keep thinking about what if I had gotten out to look at the tire because normally I would. Would those men have taken the van with NoNut in it or would they just grab my purse or what?! I’m like a 40 yr old frumpy, tired, out-of-shape mom...there’s no way they were after me but it really makes me mad that they thought they could pull one over on me! This is stuff you read about on Facebook and think would never happen to you, but that guy outright lied and told me something was wrong w/my tire and was desperate for me to come and see it! I immediately called PaNut at work while we were pulling out of the gas station and had him stay on the phone w/me until we checked the tire and got back on the interstate! The whole thing was super unnerving! (And since I didn't know what town we were in, I was grateful I had "checked-in" when we stopped for lunch via the Life 360 tracking app for families so PaNut had our location info just in case.)

So this a reminder to ALL women even if you feel old and frumpy...still listen to your gut feelings!! I’m pretty sure these men weren’t after me, but they were men on a mission and probably saw out-of-state license plates and our vacation stuff and tried to go for it in broad daylight with people around! Be alert and be aware of your surroundings no matter if you walk, drive, fly, or travel in any other way this summer!

 Also, many of us belong to faith communities that constantly remind us to share God with others and to take advantage of opportunities to share His love with strangers. But faith communities often fail to remind us of the responsibility we have to use common sense and to use wise safety sense—to love but love wisely.

Sometimes safety may look or feel like we are disrespecting people by not stopping to listen to them and/or not helping them out or by jumping in the car and locking the door or rolling up a window (or both) or by quickly leaving a situation that doesn't feel right. Matthew 10:16 says, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” "Alone, the wisdom of the serpent is mere cunning, and the harmlessness of the dove little better than weakness: but in combination, the wisdom of the serpent would save them from unnecessary exposure to danger; the harmlessness of the dove, from sinful expedients to escape it." (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary.)

While loving others is our ultimate goal, we need to remember to practice common sense (aka employ wisdom and discretion--Proverbs 3:21) and safety-sense in the process! If you get a weird gut feeling, listen to it even if it feels like you are over-reacting! Do NOT discount those moments when the Spirit is trying to protect you and lead you to safety! It is not my nature to blatantly ignore people trying to talk to me and to respond with seemingly rudeness like yesterday. However, if I didn’t do that yesterday, we would’ve had a completely different ending to our perfect beach trip! I am thankful God's protection came in the form of uneasiness because it kept us alert and ready to run from harm!

Five Minute Friday (#FMFparty) gives writers a word prompt. We are encouraged to write whatever comes to mind about that word in just five minutes (although, I usually go longer bcs FMF helps fuel that spark in me to write). No editing, no perfection, only writing from the heart. To find out more, visit Five Minute Friday. This week's word is "FLY".