Cab Driver Stories: Speaking Of Service...

Pensacola is not exactly known as a “college town” although we do have the University of West Florida and Pensacola Christian College. It's nice having PCC here because the kids who attend it are universally clean-cut, well-dressed and well-mannered. We see them at Walmart and at the mall, instantly recognizable. Along with all the Navy and Marine kids from the Navy Base, our little town has a different look and feel than, say, Berkeley, CA. No scruffy hippies here!

I happened to be in my taxi, working the airport one Friday afternoon in January. The PCC kids were returning from their winter break. The college sends shuttle vans to pick them up (they are not free).  But many eschew them and opt for the $11.00 taxi ride to school. Don't ask me why.

This young, clean-cut kid walks up to my cab. His luggage is non-military (which is distinctive) and I know immediately where he's going. We exchange pleasantries, load up and take off.

It's not a long ride to the college, so I knew that my time with this passenger will be brief. I have to make the most of it. I asked and he told me that his major is Pre-Med.

ME:  “Sooooo...you want to be a doctor?”

HIM: “Yeah, I guess...” he replied with a surprising lack of conviction. ”Trouble is, it's not going very well. My grades aren't very good.”

Hey, maybe the kid is only trying to be a doctor because his father wants him to be one. Who knows. But this opens the door for me. 

ME: “Well, you're a Christian, right?  We Christians believe that God has a plan for all of us. Perhaps God's plan for you is that you not be a doctor.” I add,”But that's the problem with God's plan – it's usually not revealed to us in advance. Sometimes you just have to pray on it and trust in the Holy Spirit to guide you to where you're supposed to be.”

Big mistake. Now, as I've said I'm not afraid of talking about religion and/or spirituality.  It opened the door for him, too.

“Do you believe in God?" he asked.

I told him that I do. 

HIM: "Well, if everything in your life went completely wrong...if your cab died and your house burned down...if everything that could go wrong did go wrong...would you still believe in God?”

It was such a strange, yet innocent and naive question that I actually laughed. Trying hard to not be or sound condescending, I said, “Son, you're too young to know this yet...but by the time you get to be my age you will have had some very good and some very bad times. Sometimes things go horribly wrong and you start to think that there's no way out. Life can be pretty scary sometimes.

“But the bad times do not challenge my faith in God. If anything, they strengthen it.  Because through both the good times and bad, God has always been there with me – even when it seemed that no one else was. He has given me the strength to get through whatever was happening. And He has never let me down.”

The conversation got even more intense. The boy was evidently going through a struggle of faith. He was obviously trying to refine and develop his own beliefs. And he quite clearly needed someone to talk to.

The problem was that we'd gotten to his college. It was a Friday afternoon and that's when it gets busy for us cabdrivers. I needed to get out and make some money. But I also didn't want to just kick this kid out of the car. And so we talked. He kept asking me philosophical questions...questions without one single, absolute or even simple answer. Some things we just have to take on...you know...faith! He'd quote Scripture, especially the Old Testament; I'd dismiss it out of hand.

Finally, I said, “Look, we Catholics focus more on the New Testament...on the life of Christ. Our Bible tells us to not take Scripture literally. The Bible is not God's word as dictated by a boss to his secretary. It is the 'inspired' word of God. We can't even be sure that Christ said all of the things that are attributed to him!  Once you wrap your head around that concept, it makes things a whole lot easier.”

Still, it's hard for many Christians to move away from thinking that the Bible is God's actual Word with a capital W. That belief is pounded into their heads from an early age.

Eventually we got out of the cab and I retrieved the kid's luggage from the trunk.  He held his hand out, looked me right in the eye and gave me a firm handshake.  Someone had taught him well.

"Thank you for your service," he said.

I wasn't sure how to take that.  Did he mean my service driving people around who don't have access to cars?  Or did he mean my service of talking to people about spirituality?  I hoped it was the latter...but you never know.