Taxi Drivers and God

Here in Dakar, we get around using taxi cabs. Now hear me when I say that these cabs are not the glamorous, exciting cabs people take in the movies. In no way do I resemble Carrie Bradshaw as I hail a cab. For the most part, these cabs are dirty and breaking, maybe clunkers would be a good word.

I remember the when my boss told me I would use taxis to get around, I thought he was crazy: “Like, hold up – you want me to get in a car with a strange man who speaks no English (aside from “how are you fine”…all one sentence, of course), yet has asked me at least 7 times if I want to marry him; in a city that I don’t know? You must be crazy”. To be completely transparent, it scared me. I had absolutely no clue of the layout of this capital city and I thought I never would. But as I’ve come to understand where things are located, here’s what I’ve realized – these cab drivers take some crazy routes. And I mean weird. Like sometimes I have that crazy girl thought of “oh no is he actually even taking me where I said or is he going to kidnap me and I’ll never get to go back to America ever again?” or “did I say the wrong words? I hate foreign languages. Now I’m never going to make it there in time”.  

For example: I was coming home from the bank the other day for the jillionth time this month (but that’s a whole different story for an entirely different day). Needless to say, I've come to know the route well. Somehow, though, in order to avoid traffic we ended up in part of town I had never seen before. Cue the panicky thoughts. Is this man a crazy person? Ok how do I even throw a punch? What neighborhood are we in? But in a matter of minutes, we were right back on track headed back to my comfy house. This got me thinking. Trusting these taxi drivers is a little bit like trusting God...I know that sounds nuts, so bear with me here.

These cab drivers make their living by carting people all over this city.  They know the ins and outs of each neighborhood. They’ve always gotten me to exactly where I wanted to go (alright fine, sometimes only in close proximity) and yet there are days when I just want to take the drivers seat and do it myself. I don’t care if I get lost, I don’t care that I don’t know how to drive a standard very well, I don’t care that traffic here is seriously insane. I just want to be in control, even if that means I crash and burn. Isn’t that how we are with God sometimes? We know that He knows what He’s doing. We know that He is in control. We know that He is far better suited to run our lives. But we still sometimes say “yeah God so listen. I know you’re God and all, but how about I drive today? I don’t really like your routes”. Y’all, how silly is that? God made us and everything around us, and we still struggle to trust Him with the every day pieces of our lives. Yeah, maybe His “routes” are different from what we’re used to or what we prefer, but I can assure you that He will get us to our destination in one piece. Isaiah 55:8 says, “’For your thoughts are not my thoughts, neither are your ways my ways’, declares the Lord”. We can’t understand what God is doing in our lives, or the “routes” He’s taking to get us to where He wants us to be. He is God and we are not. God never promised us that we would understand, He only promised us that He would take care. But what a comfort it is that we don't have to be in control! So let’s hop in the taxi and let Him take the wheel.

Ps: here's a picture of Dakar traffic, in case any of you are curious :)