The Barista Who Already Knew Her Order

In 2019, a woman named Grace Chen walked into a tiny coffee shop on Magnolia Street in Waco, Texas, three days after moving from Portland. She had never set foot in the place. But when she approached the counter, the barista — a young man named Marcus — smiled and said, "Large oat milk latte, extra shot, light foam. Right?"

Grace froze. That was exactly her order, down to every detail. She had never met Marcus. She had never even been to Waco before.

It turned out that Grace's new roommate had called ahead that morning, describing her perfectly — her drink, her red coat, even the way she always clutched her journal. Marcus had been watching for her before she ever walked through the door.

Grace later said that moment changed the entire trajectory of her move. "I went from feeling invisible in a strange city to feeling like someone had been expecting me all along."

When Nathanael approached Jesus on that dusty road, skeptical and reluctant, Jesus stopped him cold: "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree." Before Nathanael ever took a step toward the Messiah, the Messiah had already been watching. Already knowing. Already expecting him.

That is the staggering claim of this passage — not just that we seek God, but that the Almighty has been watching for us long before we ever thought to come and see.