Have You Hugged a Cab Driver Lately?

Walking out of my hotel in Center City Philadelphia yesterday I pulled my 53 pound suitcase along with my 53 pound, heavy heart with me.

I was sad.

It was one of those sad feelings that I don’t have very often. I was leaving my wife after having spent nearly three weeks together in Philadelphia and returning to San Francisco as a part of our transition across the United States.

I had the phone number of a cab driver who had given my wife and me a ride earlier in the week. I called him and he met me in front of my hotel.

When I got in the car he looked and me and asked, “Where’s your wife?” I sadly told him that we must be apart of the next two months but I hoped to return in February for a visit.

We talked as we drove. I shared with him that it is hard making a move across the United States; trusting and wondering if one is making the right decision.

That’s when he shared with me that God is with me in this transition and would carry us through. He told me the story of having to leave Pakistan and arriving in New York City with $600 in his pocket and no place to go. He explained that the fear of being alone in an unfamiliar country and the absence of his family made him want to catch the next flight home but he trusted God to finish what God had started in his life. He said that life now in the United States is like a miracle and that he is so happy to be here.

“You must trust God. God will take care of you.” When he said those words my heavy sadness and sense of loss vanquished and I felt God’s embrace.

As we pulled in the airport he hopped out and grabbed my luggage. I asked “What’d I owe you?” He replied, “Nothing. It is my gift to you.”

Still sitting in the back seat I looked up at his name/ID card posted on the seat, it said Michael Emmanuel. The names mean:
Michael: who is like God?
Emmanuel: God with us.

I got out of the cab and said goodbye, that’s when we hugged. Right there outside the US Air gate in the middle of the busy airport traffic I hugged the messenger God had sent to comfort me-- my cab driver from Pakistan.

Wherever you are in your life know that there is no other like God. You belong to God not because of what you do but because of who you are. God is with you, not because of what you have done, but because of who God is. Trust God to see you through. Listen to the messengers God sends to comfort you, wherever you may find them-- especially if it is a cab driver named Michael Emmanuel in Philaldelphia.