God has a sense of humor. I’m convinced he plays games with us all the time. Or, maybe His angels are the pranksters?
A few weeks ago, I got the “Ding!” Uber tells me to go pick up “Faith.” I once wrote a blog about the names of my riders. I think the only “nicknames” Uber disallows are the cusswords you would expect to be banned. I’ve picked up “Killer”, “Death”, lots of “Mom’s,” and countless names I could never hope to pronounce. Some were written in Russian and some in Cyrillic.
I took Faith to her designated destination. Nice girl.
Later that day, Uber directed me to another young lady. Hope! I had to laugh.
“I picked up Faith earlier today,” I told my rider. “Faith first, then Hope! Good start. I know in the past, I’ve picked up riders named ‘Charity’ and ‘Love’.”
The next morning, one of my first riders was “Heaven.” I told her about Faith and Hope from the previous day.
“I was looking for ‘Charity’ or ‘Love’, but got Heaven instead. I’m not sure I’m ready for heaven yet,” I laughed.
“Oh,” she said, “I think you are ready for heaven right now.” She said that in a more serious voice than I had expected.
“Well, I hope to have a few more years before that test!” I said.
I spent the rest of the day looking for Love or Charity. No such luck.
Fast forward a couple of days. I hear the ding, look down at my phone, and see that I’m supposed to pick up “Christ.” I looked again. It said “Christi,” which is Latin for “Christ.”
When we begin the ride, I see that his name is Christian. The app cut it short, leaving Christi. I told him about my quest to find Love or Charity as a rider.
Have you ever had someone tell you something very natural, but not in the tone you expected? That’s how this was.
“Oh,” said Christian, “You will get your Charity very soon. Very soon.”
I laughed. He didn’t. He said it with noticeable confidence. Weird.
So I was halfway expecting my next ride to be Charity. I hear the ding, look down at my phone, and, no, it was not Charity or Love. I shrugged it off and headed toward the pickup. Then, the dreaded sound, “Rider canceled!”
Oh, well. It happens. Then, another ride beckons. I looked at the app and began laughing and shouting alone in my car. There it is, clear as a bell!
Charity! I’m supposed to pick up Charity! I couldn’t wait to tell her when she sat down in the back seat. She laughed with me. But as I dropped her off, she said words to me that I’ve heard a lot over the last nine years of sharing rides with people.
“There is a reason you picked me up today. It wasn’t just random.” She said it with the same confidence that Christian exhibited when he told me I’d get Charity very soon.
I believe there are few, if any, coincidences in this world. What I’ve just told you absolutely happened, and I think its meaning is simple: pay attention when God winks at you. I don’t know what meaning I’m supposed to apply to it beyond that. I believe that God and His angels love to play little games with us, just to see if we’re paying attention. I’m glad I was.
Let me know what you think. I’d love to hear your stories of when God winked at you.
God Bless,
Tommy