March 12, 2017. Madison, Mississippi. The Preacher/Taxi Driver.

The drive home from the airport last evening was one of the most interesting conversation of our life. Ken usually begins a taxi trip  by asking the driver a question.  If the driver answers in monosyllables, Ken stops attempting to talk any further.  But sometimes the drivers have interesting things to say so the conversations provide us with lots of information and entertainment.  Last night was a perfect example.

We were late leaving the terminal.  Ken commented to our driver about the lateness of the hour and that Ken appreciated him working.  The driver laughed and said that lots of drivers do not wish to work on Saturday night especially in the rain.  Then he said that he did not want to be too late because on Sunday morning he would be preaching.    Well, from then on, our conversation was spirited, so much so that the driver took a wrong turn.  We picked his brain about how he became a preacher, where he preaches, how long had he be doing this work and why he drives a taxi.  And we talked about the pleasures and pitfalls of being a preacher.

He attended seminary after being successful in business after high school because he wanted to help people.  He still does.  He is a preacher to help folks live their life.  He preaches at The Foursquare Baptist Church and from that he gets a salary.  He has been there for 16 years.  He will not involve himself in the finances of the church.  The people of the church own the church and they manage their money.  Many preachers have come to a bad end by tampering with the money of the church so he will not even attend the financial meetings.  The church has 3500 families belonging to that church.  And he runs a taxi service for extra money and to help people when no other driver wants to work.  He was quite a remarkable person.  He is single.  While in seminary, his wife divorced him and he has no wish to repeat the experience.  Evidently, his wife decided she did not want to be married to a preacher.   Our conversation was unusual for sure.  We would never have met him had we been on time.  Last night we just got lucky.