Article January 1, 2001 ISSUE

...in São Paulo, Brazil

by Paulo José Jordão Barreto

It was a birthday present from my mother — my first car. It meant a lot to me because it gave me greater independence. In the Bible, I learned that we receive when we give. So I began to use my car to give rides to people, and to help my parents by taking my younger brothers to school.

One day driving home from work, I stopped at a traffic light and was held up by two young men. The guy who came to the window pointed a gun at me and told me to sit in the back. I tried to remain calm, and asked them to drop me off somewhere. However, they didn't want to talk. I'm studying law, and my criminal law professor always tells us that these holdups can be dangerous because these guys are often high on drugs. So it's important for us to know what to think, and how to react. And they were really threatening me, saying they were going to kill me. There was a reservoir near where we were, and they said they were going to throw me in.

But I tried to stay calm crouched down in the back seat. I told them that they could take the car, and I gave them the money I had.

I thought about God the whole time. I think that's what made me feel safe. In spite of the threats, I was sure that they couldn't take away something that was mine by right. And I say "right" in the sense that there's a higher right, a divine right. I felt I had this car as a result of God's goodness to me and everyone. The car not only helped me out, but I was also able to give rides to my family and friends.

I also felt the car was mine by right in the sense of our human laws. This was a legal purchase. We had bought this car — and it belonged to me — so people couldn't simply show up and take it away. I also had expensive college books in the back seat.

At one point the carjackers slowed down and said I could get out. Then I felt a little afraid, because I thought they would shoot me in the back. The back door jammed and wouldn't open. But they pressured me, "Get out, get out!" And I was able to grab my books and escape through the other door. I stayed down on the ground for a while, glad that I was well and safe. They took off in the car, and I went to call my mother.

When I got home, I called the police to tell them my car had been stolen. And the next day I went to the police station with my parents to file a report.

At home I was able to stop and think about the whole situation. At times some popular Brazilian sayings came to mind, such as, "God writes straight through crooked lines" or "There are evils that come to do good." But I didn't believe there was any truth to these sayings. God Himself is good; He doesn't send evil to produce good. I was sure of this regarding my car.

Some people, though, told me, "You'll never get your car back. They steal cars to chop them up for parts."

I had an exam the next day, and I needed to bring up my grade in that course. So I decided to go ahead with studying. I realized that the carjacking couldn't spoil my preparation for the exams — that whatever does not originate in God can't harm me. The next day I went in and took the test calmly. And it was the best exam in the class that term — and the first 100 percent I'd ever received in college.

One month later, on my way home from a business trip, I called my house from a shopping center where I had stopped to eat something. My mother told me the police had found my car, and that we could get it the next day.

It was perfect, intact — exactly the way I had left it, someone had even installed a radio antenna and rain guards — things the car never had before. I attribute this to my prayer during the theft and afterwards — to the certain feeling this prayer gave me that I could not lose this car, this asset, this present, and everything it symbolized. The car itself was not the most important thing. It was the way in which I thought about it: the fact that it was a present from my mother — given to me with affection that could never be lost.

Send a comment to the editors
NEXT IN THIS ISSUE
Article
...in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
January 1, 2001
Contents

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit