Carjacked

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Jesus said to all of his followers, “If you truly desire to be my disciple, you must disown your life completely, embrace my ‘cross’ as your own, and surrender to my ways. For if you choose self-sacrifice, giving up your lives for my glory, you will embark on a discovery of more and more of true life. But if you choose to keep your lives for yourselves, you will lose what you try to keep.”

~LUKE 9:23-24, TPT~

About three months after my salvation, I was trying my best to become a true follower of Jesus Christ. I read my Bible daily, practiced hearing the voice of God throughout the day, tried my very best to include God in as many daily activities possible, and, most of all, I sought God to help rid me of a few lingering bad habits.

One night, while working on some school design projects, I got hungry and decided to make a run to a supermarket. I had my heart set on a frozen supreme pizza and a bottle of cheap wine, which at that time I was still drinking a few bottles a week. Like clockwork, I grabbed my pizza from the frozen section, grabbed my bottle of wine from the refrigerator section, and checked out.

As I made my way toward the automatic sliding double doors, I noticed a big burly guy in a dirty red plaid jacket with a huge duck hunter-type beard and wearing an old pair of tattered jeans. Suddenly, I heard the audible voice of God interrupt my mission to eat. God said, “He will carjack you.” That’s when I noticed the guy’s hand concealing something in the waistline of his dirty blue jeans. To me, it looked like he was concealing a small-caliber handgun.

“Thank you, Jesus,” I thought to myself as I turned to exit the other set of double doors on the complete opposite side of the supermarket.

“Give him a ride,” a voice ordered.

Pausing midstride, I responded out loud, “Um, what?” Now I was convinced that I must be hearing the devil. “Give him a ride,” a voice ordered, again.

Pausing again, I glanced back at the big guy, while thinking about the handgun. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, felt the peace of God, which I was learning to nurture, and decided to do as I believed God was instructing.

I made up my mind to take the risk. I walked outside, walking directly up to the man. He looked nervous and said, “Excuse me, sir…”

I interrupted him and asked, “Would you like a ride?”

Looking stunned and confused, the man responded, stuttering, “Y-Y-Yes.”

“Well, come on. My truck is right over there,” I replied.

We walked over to my truck; I placed my groceries in the back seat, jumped in my seat, and watched the stranger in the mirror approach the passenger side door, adjust the gun in his waistline, open the door, and climb in.

My heart was pounding out of my chest as I hesitantly started my truck. I could not believe that I was doing this, but I recently had read the scripture verse that says obedience is better than sacrifice. And I thought I would test that out.

“Okay, God,” I thought to myself. “I hope this is you.”

I started the truck, then turned to the man and asked, “Where are you going?”

“Huh?” he responded.

“Where am I dropping you off?” I asked. “I have a frozen pizza and a cold drink in the back seat and would love to get home soon. So, where am I taking you? I will drop you off anywhere you want.”

“Ummm, head up West Bellfort toward Murphy Road,” he finally directed.

I did as he asked. As we reached the light where the two streets intersected, he turned to me again and asked with a stammer, “W-Why are you doing this? Why are you giving me a ride?”

“Do you really want to know?” I hesitantly responded.

He nodded.

“Ok, you’re probably going to think I’m crazy, but God told me to give you a ride when you were standing outside. Apparently, He said you needed one. Did you at any point today say that you wanted to ‘Get a ride’?”

“Ugh, yes,” he said. “I just said those exact words to my roommate before heading out.”

I responded with a little aggravation and said, “Well, I guess I am your ride. Where to now?”

He had no idea, but I felt like I was about to have a nervous breakdown or heart attack. My limbs were numb with fear, but there was something inside me that had to find out if it was really God’s voice I heard, even if it meant that I was going to become a martyr as a three-month-old Christian.

I could not think of why God, after I had just met Him, would sacrifice me to provide this man with my new truck. Suddenly, the man interrupted my thoughts of self-pity and confusion. Again, he said, sounding very confused, “W-Why would God do this? Why would He tell you to give me a ride?”

I responded, “Honestly, I don’t know, man. Maybe He wants you to know that He hears you.”

With that last sentence, he directed me to turn down the next street and asked me to stop my truck just before making it to the dead end. “Stop here and let me out,” he said forcefully.

I responded, “What? Here? It’s a dead end. Are you sure?”

He firmly replied, “Yes, sir, please let me out.”

“This must be it,” I thought. “This is where I am going to die.”

I pulled over, and he opened his door and jumped out before we came to a full stop. “Ok, go,” he demanded.

Confused, I drove to the dead end, u-turned, and drove past him on my way off that street. I watched him in my rearview mirror, pacing around and shaking his head, and he appeared to be talking to himself. He looked very confused. I, on the other hand, was relieved and was ready for a drink.

I do not know what became of that man. I like to believe that he had a personal encounter with God while in my truck, preventing him from making the biggest mistake of his life.

Instead of carjacking someone, he was God-jacked for the ride of our life, and I am happy that I now live to share this story.

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