He Fled

Sometimes I am thoughtlessly brave.

Take today, for example. I was on my way into Paris by myself to meet a friend for lunch and shopping. After taking a train to Notre Dame, I needed to get on the Metro to get to my rendez-vous point. As I waited in the subway station, I received a text message. I took my phone out of my purse to read it, but just then the train arrived, so I quickly put my phone away and hopped on.

The Metro was packed wall to wall, and I was sandwiched between two men who were about twice my size. I felt strangely suspicious of one of the men that was standing next to me. I am not a fearful person, but I do tend to be appropriately aware of my surroundings, particularly when traveling alone in big cities.

When I got to my my destination, I awkwardly squeezed my way through the crowd and jumped off of the train and onto the platform. I went to reach for my phone and noticed immediately that my purse was unzipped and my phone was missing. I instantly spun around, and the man of whom I was suspicious was standing right behind me, apparently hiding something in his very large hands.

I looked right at him (or should I say UP at him) and said, "Did you take my phone?"

He looked around nervously, and then opened his hand to show me MY phone. He was about to put it into an empty fabric tote bag.

He then hesitated and said to me, "You dropped it."

But I hadn't dropped it. He had taken it from my purse as I was trying to get out of the subway train.

"Please give it to me!" I said, unaware of the fact that I was confronting a pickpocket.

Would you believe he gave it to me? And then he hopped back on the train as it was pulling away. I felt pretty tough.

Next moment, another man, shorter, older and smartly dressed, approached me and asked, "Did he steal something from you?"

"Well, yes," I said, "he took my phone. But when I asked him about it he gave it back."

To which he replied, "He returned your phone because he recognized me. I am a police officer."

So while I am stupidly brave, it turns out that I am not so intimidating, after all.

Nevertheless, the whole story reminds me of how we ought to deal with the enemy of our souls. Satan is bigger and stronger than us and he comes to steal and destroy, but he cannot. One word from us, and the evil one has to flee. But he is not afraid of us. No. When we confront the enemy, he sees Jesus standing with us on the platform, and he hops back on his train.

By the way, as I think back through the entire event, I honestly cannot say whether the conversations took place in French or English. I'm guessing they were in French.

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