Close Call

Last Saturday I went to pick up my friends from Utah at Long Beach Airport. (They flew in to go on a cruise) We decided to stay in a hotel by the airport and have a 'girls nite' before taking them to the ship the next day. We checked into the Courtyard Marriott in Cypress around 7pm and our plans were to go up to our room, change, and then go swimming. While we were getting settled into our room (on the 6th floor), I decided to check out the view from our window. We over looked the back parking lot of the hotel, and neighboring office buildings. So as I was standing there admiring the view, I see a police car pull up in the back parking lot of our hotel. We started to joke about why they were there, then to our surprise 2 police officers jump out, guns drawn! I started to freak out. Then another police car pulled up and that officer jumped out, gun drawn. They were crouching behind cars and bushes and as they made their way through the parking lot we realized they were heading towards the back door to our hotel! We had no idea what was going on but we knew what ever it was wasn't good. So after about 15 minutes of panicking (and praying), we saw the officers leave. So I immediately called down to the front desk and asked what was going on. They told me that a customer came in off the street and was making some gestures that made them uncomfortable, so they called the police to be safe. So needless to say, we didn't leave the room for the rest of the night. Monday night I was watching the 10pm news and to my surprise the hotel incident was on there and it turns out it wasn't what we thought. This is what really happened. (I'm quoting the news) 'A man on parole for assault with a deadly weapon was caught in the act of an armed robbery Saturday evening. An employee at the Cypress Courtyard Marriott on Katella called police after observing 27 year old Vincente Acevedo trying to rob a hotel clerk at knife point on a security camera. Police arrived and took the suspect into custody.' I came to realize that if we had arrived a moment later or had not taken a moment to look out the window of our hotel room, we would have been hostages in the lobby. I am grateful for divine intervention and the protective hand over us that day.