Taxis and Jesus
I have a "taxicab ministry." I ride the city taxis a lot here, usually when it's icily raining or I haven't gotten up early enough to get to my morning commitment on time. The other night, Kathryn and I decided to take a cab up one of the mountains to Parke Princiva (Parkay Prin-cheeva), a lovely restaurant/cafe overlooking the city. We enjoyed the wonderful cheese platter and Stella Artois in gold-rimmed goblets and watched the sun set over the many minarets and cozily lit village homes below.
On our way down we hailed another cab, and were delighted to meet Iso, our refreshingly kind taxi driver, with whom I fell immediately into conversation. Many of the cab drivers I meet are macho men who spend more time checking their reflections in the mirror than checking their blind spots, or know-it-alls who consider me priveleged to be in their car. But Iso had that rare open, gentle spirit about him, and I was thankful that between us, we knew enough of one another's languages to communicate.
As we talked, the opportunity naturally opened up for me to witness to him. Using "Bosglish," I asked him what religion he was. I found out he believed in God but in a deistic way--and didn't attend any sort of church. He believed in reincarnation ("I believe when I die I could come back as mouse."), and absolutely did not believe in heaven or hell.
I asked him if he had a Bible. "Yes, but I don't read it." So I asked him to read John 3:16, and I told him that my Christianity was not a "religion," but a relationship. I was basically able to share my testimony in a nutshell, and he listened with eager interest. He promised me that he would read his Bible.
Taking the taxis has been my greatest outlet for sharing the gospel here. I'm praying for Iso and his family, and trusting for other such opportunities to be salt and light to these people. I love this kind of ministry--it's not compartmentalized Christianity--it's being Christ to people in the mundane moments of life. I desire that my faith increases so that I can do this everywhere I go.
On our way down we hailed another cab, and were delighted to meet Iso, our refreshingly kind taxi driver, with whom I fell immediately into conversation. Many of the cab drivers I meet are macho men who spend more time checking their reflections in the mirror than checking their blind spots, or know-it-alls who consider me priveleged to be in their car. But Iso had that rare open, gentle spirit about him, and I was thankful that between us, we knew enough of one another's languages to communicate.
As we talked, the opportunity naturally opened up for me to witness to him. Using "Bosglish," I asked him what religion he was. I found out he believed in God but in a deistic way--and didn't attend any sort of church. He believed in reincarnation ("I believe when I die I could come back as mouse."), and absolutely did not believe in heaven or hell.
I asked him if he had a Bible. "Yes, but I don't read it." So I asked him to read John 3:16, and I told him that my Christianity was not a "religion," but a relationship. I was basically able to share my testimony in a nutshell, and he listened with eager interest. He promised me that he would read his Bible.
Taking the taxis has been my greatest outlet for sharing the gospel here. I'm praying for Iso and his family, and trusting for other such opportunities to be salt and light to these people. I love this kind of ministry--it's not compartmentalized Christianity--it's being Christ to people in the mundane moments of life. I desire that my faith increases so that I can do this everywhere I go.
1 Comments:
Wow, Bekah! i can't believe I missed this post. That's such an incredible ministry! I will pray for you in that and that you get some positive comeback from it somehow, too. :)
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