From the unpublished notes…
Before I had to hang it up for health reasons, I drove over 6200 Uber and Lyft trips. Best guess, at least 20,000 different people rode with me over the 4 years I drove. While I have shared some of those stories, there were many more people who made an impression for whatever reason, so I took notes in case I would get to writing about them later.
Most of those never made it past the legal pad I kept in the visor of my trusty Mistubishi Outlander, a very tight Uber XL. I was reminded of one such rider Thursday. His name was Rodrick. I had to re-read my notes to jog my memory but Roderick was one of those positive passenger experiences that I just never got back to in order to share the story. Our trip was brief and I didn’t get any background on Roderick, which is something I like to do when I find a person with a story worthy of sharing. But I definitely remembered the message.
I met Roderick around 10pm on a hot August night, just like today. I picked him up from The Potter’s House, a non-denominational church in Dallas. As I arrived, I noticed a crowd filing out toward their cars and traffic already building up. As I turned into the parking lot a man in a sleek gray suite and bright red tie flagged me down. Roderick opened the rear door behind me and asked if I was Christopher before hopping into the back seat. He was very friendly and energetic.
Roderick slid over to the right back seat and asked how my Saturday night was going so far. Feeling his positivity, I responded joyfully, “It’s going great so far! How about you? What is happening in the house of the Lord tonight that brought everyone out?”
He paused for a moment, glanced at the entrance to the church as we followed the growing stream of taillights filtering onto Kiest boulevard. Then he began to speak in a very instructing and sermon-like but warm and inviting voice “Christopher, that is not the house of the Lord.” He paused briefly to allow me a moment to ponder his remark. “That’s a church.” “A building,” he stated with emphasis, grinning as if he was waiting for a pupil’s response. I was easily and eagerly interested in whatever was coming next.
It was one of those Saturdays I started early, so I had already given several rides that day and all of them positive experiences. Days like that always had me excited to get the next rider and share a few minutes of life with them. It was a good day. And, I had almost hit my goal for the day so I was feeling rather confident and content with avoiding the late night drunks. Saturday nights are very lucrative for drivers but the chances of having a less than joyful passenger experience always go up exponentially.
I used to get the same question, especially on late night runs.”Has anyone ever thrown up in your car?” To which, my answer would usually be very dry, followed by a slight grin looking back at the rider who asked the question, “Yeah.” Then with a brief glance down at their seat, I followed with, “but it should be dry by now.”
I just loved that joke. And someone asked that question almost every time I worked late. Always a good ice breaker!
So I bit and responded to Roderick’s announcement, “so it’s a church but not the house of the Lord?”
Roderick began to speak as if what came next was a very practiced and perfected part of the lesson I found myself in, “Noooooooo. No, no, no, Christopher. A church is just a building, a gathering place. The house of the Lord is right here!” He pounded his chest lightly.
“Church is a place where people come together to praise God and share in that joy. But people never stay there. The true house of the Lord is in your heart and you must take that house everywhere you go, not just church.”
I nodded affirmingly as I glanced at him through my rear view mirror. We continued to have a delightful conversation about doing God’s work and spoke of the importance to keep him in your heart every day, not just on Sundays, or special occasions at church. The ride was fairly brief but definitely left me feeling uplifted. I called it a night after that. Always good to quit on a high note.
Both my uncles were tall and played alot of basketball. Every time we played together they made sure we all finished the game sinking a basket. “Always make your last shot, Nephew!” They would tell me. A lesson I took to heart and have used it ever since in many aspects of life. Always finish on a high note. This has been especially helpful when interacting with other people. Don’t be a Debby Downer.
Like I said, I didn’t really get any info about Roderick. I don’t even think he ever actually said what the event was. But his message about the house of the Lord resonated.
Thursday, I was driving home from a doctor’s appointment late in the day. Traffic was pretty bad. The truck in front of me on LBJ Freeway had a bumper sticker that simply said “Praise the Lord.” We were both in the middle lane. Everyone was jockeying for position. Not me.
I have been practicing at being a kinder driver. Believe me, I need the practice. So, I try to take advantage of perhaps the extra 2 or 3 minutes it takes to get places. That’s an extra song, or a few more minutes of a podcast or audio book. Anyway, the Praise the Lord truck suddenly tacked left to get into the far lane. Yep, that’ll save you a whole 2 milliseconds. There wasn’t ample space which forced the Nissan SUV next to me to throw on the brakes and veer left, halfway into the shoulder before straightening out. This was, of course, accompanied by a horn. As I surveyed the new traffic dynamic I noticed the driver of the truck roll down the window and let his left handed bird fly high for the Nissan.
It occurred to me that the driver was a Christian but not being very Christian-like. We are all guilty of a little road rage and it is always somebody else’s fault in traffic. That’s the unspoken rule, “that other person doesn’t know how to drive.” I am the bestest smartest most perfectly perfect driver compared to all these drivers around me.
This points to a much broader theme. Too often, we only behave in a manner worthy of following Christ when at church. Once you walk out the door after service, God kinda fades to the back seat. Christ taught love, forgiveness, and kindness. And, he didn’t do it in church. He practiced what he preached everywhere he went and with everyone he interacted with.
We are not doing a very good job at following his lead. We are not loving thy neighbors. I was thinking what Jesus might say about the division, the deep despair, the way we have come so far as a species but lost the ability to take better care of each other. I wonder if he would be OK with the way our society has continued to fracture. What would he say to us if we didn’t keep our hearts in the house of the Lord except maybe on Sundays, or the occasional Saturday night?
TRY HARDER! DO BETTER!
Meanwhile…
“Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died
Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long-stem rose
Everybody knows”
Be love. Be kind. We are all connected.
Life is better with a soundtrack.
#kindness #purposefulkindness #drivingawaydepression #WhatAWonderfulWorld #hope #peace #joy #love #streetlights #grace #TheKindnessClub #lifeisbetterwithasoundtrack #weareallconnected #findingjoy
#AllMyEmptySpaces
StreetLights 
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