what would you do?

I met a moment of truth last night. It was one of the scariest three seconds of my life.

Jonathan and I had returned from homegroup and were sitting in his car in my apartment complex parking lot talking.

I heard his car door behind me open, and my first thought was that one of my roommates was being dumb and jumping into the car to break up the conversation. When I turned around, I was surprised to see a black man, who I had never seen before, sitting in the back seat.
I stared at him, stunned and surprise, a million thoughts running through my head:

"Do I know this person? No, I've never met him before."
"What is he doing in this car?"
"Does he have a weapon?"
"What does he want?"
"Is he going to make Jonathan drive him somewhere?"
"Is he going to hurt or kill us?"
"Is he going to rob us or take the car?"

There were just a few seconds of silence, all three of us staring at each other, wondering what the other would do next.

And then, the guy's eyes got wide and he gasped. "Oh! Wow, this isn't the right car!" He glances across the parking lot to another silver car with the engine running. "I thought you were someone else! Your cars look the same."

I let out a sigh of relief as he opened the car door again to get out. "You scared the crap out of me!" I finally said.

He laughed, obviously embarassed, and said he was sorry as he jogged off to meet his friends in the other car, all of them laughing as they drove away.

Jonathan and I just stared out the car windshield in disbelief as we watched them leave. Our hearts pounding and neither of us able to say anything for a few moments.

My life did not flash before my eyes, but it did occur to me how dangerous the situation could have been, and how grateful I was that we were both ok and it was a false alarm. After a minute of silence, we hugged and laughed nervously (and me almost hyperventilating) at what seemed to be a narrow escape from a potentially life-threatening moment... there were a few minutes of repeating, "did that just happen? I can't believe that just happened! did some stranger just jump into your car by mistake? Who does that? What was he thinking?"

And I asked Jonathan, "what would you have done?"
"What would I have done?"
"If he was hijacking the car, and he had a weapon, and told you to start driving... what would you have done?"

And what can you do? "Fight or flight".

Would you negotiate and reason with the man?
Try to divert his attention and escape?
Fight him before he tries to hurt you?
Would you just comply and do what he says?

A moment can change everything.

Lock your doors when you are in a parked car.
Be aware of your surroundings, whether on the road or in a parking lot.
Here are some more tips I found... be smart and safe, it could happen to anyone.

Safety Tips: Car Hijacking