taxi

last saturday, jessey and i were en route to our weekly arabic lesson with our tutor. we got into a taxi, driven by a man with a foot-long beard and a dishdash on. we're both usually excited when we get near a beard of such magnitude, so we were happy to have stumbled upon this particular taxi. he immediately noticed one of my tattoos and asked me what it was (keep in mind, this conversation took place entirely in arabic). i told him it was a tattoo, from a needle. he shook his head in disappointment and then asked me if it would wash off. i said no. then he asked jessey if she had any. when she said yes, he was even more disappointed. but, this man chose not to shut us out. he continued the converstation despite our tattoos.

he asked if we were married, if we had children, where we were from, what we do for work, etc. then i asked him about his family. he gladly told me he had 3 children, and then, while driving over a bridge, showed both of us pictures of his children on his phone. he said his family was made up of 9 boys and 7 girls growing up. we were amazed. there was a picture of a clean cut arab man hanging in the window, a driver identification card, featured in all taxis. i asked him if he was the one pictured. he laughed and said yes, and that he'd been driving this taxi for 10 years. 10 years. just to provide for a family, he drives 16 hours a day and probably makes about 800 JD a month. phew. when he dropped us off, he told me not to pay. it was a beautiful gesture. i insisted on paying, and he didn't resist a second time, which in arab culture means he was being nice the first time, like a friend, but not necessarily meaning that he didn't want me to pay. we got out of the taxi in wonder about how cool God is to give us good conversations with strangers, in a language we barely know.

fast forward 5 days. again, jessey, me, and our friend bethany get into a taxi on our way to a cafe. the driver starts talking to me (again in arabic) and tells me my arabic is good, to which i responded that arabic is difficult. he proceeds to try and tell me that he has a book that is not difficult to read that he wants to give me. i didn't understand. he tried two more times. still nothing. as we continued on our way, he just made jokes and we laughed. he was a good and pleasant person. when we got to our destination, he said, this time in english, that he wanted to give me a book about islam. i said sure, since i wanted the book, and i didn't expect him to actually give one to me. he grabbed two little books out of his car door and asked me to pick...i was being "intentionally pursued" (if you catch my drift) by this taxi driver. i took a religious book about the prophet mohammad, allah, and jesus, and went inside.

i marveled at this young man's intentionality, his passion, his desire to tell me about his beliefs. i was again reminded of what i've been placed on this earth for, and i am grateful.