Friday's Robbery/Crime in Brasil

I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. As in all big cities, there are places in Memphis that you don't go at night, or even in the day for that matter, because it just isn't safe.

Porto Alegre is no different. For the most part we feel pretty safe here. We have a house that is protected by walls or fences, good neighbors who keep an eye out for things, a great neighborhood, and a great street guard named Inacio. A street guard is a must. Each home owner/renter must pay for the street guard. It a good investment.

Like I said, we feel that our city is one of the safer ones in Brasil.

That being said, I've personally seen more crime here than I ever have in my life.

Our family was in a school supply store one day when it was robbed. It was the store on the school grounds where our kids attend. I had a gun stuck in my ribs and was told to move, along with Bronwyn and Ansley, into a dressing stall. It wasn't nearly as scary as it sounds. The two guys robbing the place were pretty calm and peaceful and, to be honest, the gun didn't scare me because I actually thought it was a friend of mine who worked at the school who was messing around with me. By the time I figured out the gun was real we were already moving toward the dressing stall. They stole all the checks and cash from the store and quietly left.

I've been involved in two purse chasings as well. The first one happened in a pouring rainstorm and a woman stopped our car and pointed to a man running away. She told us he just robbed her. We took off after him in the car and then a little bit on foot but he got away.

The next time wasn't so pretty. A good friend of mine and I were eating breakfast at a street cafe that another friend of ours owned. We heard an ear piercing scream yelling "HELP" from a woman and almost immediately a man ran by our table on the sidewalk. He ran across the street and my friends and I took off after him. I reached the man first. He started slowing down when he realized he would not be able to outrun us. He then stopped and I envisioned the American football tackle I would put on him. I sped up and saw, in my mind's eye, him laid out on the ground and me handing the purse back to the woman. I dove for the man and could have sworn I felt my body knock him over. I ended up eating some concrete sidewalk. I got up, dazed, bloody. I looked back and saw the robber bleeding from the head and my friend holding his purse. The robber seemed to have too many drugs in his system to really feel the pain that I inflicted on him. Or so I thought. We gave the purse to the lady and she thanked us. I called Benay, drove home, and she took me to the hospital to get worked on. Here are some photos of the damage:Not very pretty results - 5 stitches in my face and a cast on my wrist for a few days. But worth the trouble, I thought, as I felt pretty good about being a "hero" for the rest of that day. That night the friend who was eating breakfast with me came over to see how I was doing. We were talking and I said something to the effect of the stitches and cast were worth it in knowing that I was at least able to knock that guy over and allowed my friend to get the purse. There was a long, awkward pause and then my friend began to smile. He began to be like Paul Harvey as he told me "the rest of the story." What had "actually" happened was that when I went airborne to clobber this guy, he bent down (yes on drugs and all) and I flew over the top of him. Didn't even touch him. I thought my friend was pulling my chain. What about the blood I asked? My other friend had actually bashed the guy's head with a rock after I dove and missed. That would be called Brasilian street justice. We still get a good laugh about my "bravery" to this day.

I share all of this to say that unfortunately in a big city you just naturally see, and experience, crimes. One of our teammates had his car stolen and another watched his car get bashed in by drunken people (while he was in the car), etc. I shared with a brother at house church yesterday what happened and he then began to tell me one of his personal experiences. Everyone, again unfortunately, has them. It happens.

But, that still doesn't make you feel any better when you walk up to your car and see broken glass all over the ground and you know what it is. (see yesterday's post)

I am thankful that Garrett was with me. He was the Spirit's voice in my ear when ,I'll admit, all I wanted to do was choke the person who did it. As I told my friends, I was mad and sick at first and then just mad. Garrett began the process of calming me down. Then we got home and Benay continued the healing process in reminding me that it was just "a thing" and how we should thank God Garrett and I weren't involved or hurt. I knew she was right but I was still very angry. I asked God to begin the healing in my heart for these people. It was hard for me to pray anything other than "bring punishment" to this person(s). I woke up at 2:30 Saturday morning with a bunch of crud in my heart. I couldn't go to sleep and couldn't get what happened out of my head. We have a brother in the states who says Satan does his best work in the middle of the night. He calls it his "what if" time. I was in "what if" land for sure.

Then God began to slowly work through the encouraging words of Benay and all of our kids (especially Garrett). He used them and other people to bring healing. There is a couple in the United States who, after finding out what happened, said they would send us a check to buy us a new camera, lens, batteries......everything that was stolen. We had just bought this camera and equipment in June after saving over a year, but within hours after being stolen, it was replaced. God is so good. This couple didn't do it to get any glory. They did it because they love us. We were humbled. God is good.

Benay and I had a Matthew Churrasco (Brasilian bar-b-que) planned for Saturday with our friends Freitas and Auristela. They own a hardware store in our neighborhood and just had a little boy last December. During the "what if" time Saturday morning I felt the battle beginning with an urge to cancel the bar-b-que. I then felt the Spirit telling me not to cancel. We didn't, and God blessed us so much. Our friends stayed about 5 hours here and it was the best thing that happened to me. I felt all the anger and frustration just melt away as we enjoyed our time with them. God kept reminding me that bad things will happen but our goal never changes and that is to share the Good News.

I like how He can take a bad situation and use it to call you back to what is really important. It's not always fun but you definitely get a better focus on His will.