Taxi Brother

After the usual long, fruitful, busy day at work, I attended Worship Night at Victory Fort. It was great being there again after a number of months. I’m still reeling from trying to wrap my mind around how big God is in comparison to myself. I know I’ll never really arrive, but that’s kinda the point – just being conscious and aware of how great and above me He is.

Anyway, as I was going home I hailed a taxi that had gone past me already. It stopped abruptly and made a quick, u-turn to come to my side of the road. I figured he just really needed a passenger until it got close and I saw another person in the passenger seat. “This is weird,” I thought as I got in.

“Pastor!”

“Huh? Kilala niyo po ako?” 

“Oo no! Kakagaling lang rin namin sa Worship Night!”

They were two friends. Benson, the taxi driver, was giving Romeo a free ride along the way to where I needed to go. We talked for a bit. After Romeo got down, Benson recounted how he started coming to Victory Fort and how he attended Pastor Dennis Isleta’s Victory group. He also talked about how he had to fight back fear as sometimes weird phenomena would occur in his taxi that seemed supernatural in origin. But he said he clung tightly to the verse that was mentioned earlier in the evening.

I told him that I have to fight feelings of fear at times myself, how a friend of mine who’s been following Jesus for years had a similar experience recently and we fight through God’s word coz that reminds us of who He is and how we can trust Him.

We arrived at our place and I paid him. Almost the same time we said to each other that we were gonna share this encounter with our friends. I had hailed a taxi driver and got in to meet a brother in God’s family. We parted ways as Benson drove off – I was going home to rest and he was going to work some more.

Some thoughts on this great cap to a great day:

1. God is pleased with the work Benson does as a taxi driver. What pleases God is faith. So with every kilometer that Benson drives, as he operates in his faith in God, he is pleasing God. My work as a campus missionary is not in any way more significant, special, or holy to God. This gives respect and dignity to the most seemingly menial of tasks. Because as the Bible says, no matter what it is we’re doing, it’s God we’re serving.

2. Benson is my brother twice over. We are both made in the image and likeness of God. This fact applies to every human being. Every person bears a stamp of the divine. Think about that before you lose your temper or shoot your mouth off at any officemate, maid, driver, student, teacher, sibling, etc. They are infinitely more valuable than any object, event, plan, project, corporation, inconvenience, or gain that you are getting so worked up about.

But he’s also my brother in Christ, meaning a fellow believer. We have different roles on earth, but in the next life we’ll both go home to the same dining table with God as our Father and all titles, distinctions, and social classes will have evaporated. Even as he thanked me for our talk, I knew I was encouraged by his faith as well.