MORE TAXIS, MORE AMIGOS

In September of last year I sent a commentary to the Tribune from Arequipa, Peru, called Taxis and Amigos. In it I gave an account of a 20 minute taxi ride from the seminary where I teach to the school where my wife Bonnie teaches.  The taxi driver was Raul and he is also a minister in La Iglesia Torre Fuerte, the Strong Tower Church, and independent evangelical congregation. During the twenty minute ride we shared our faith in Christ, prayed together, and promised to keep in touch. I’m back in Arequipa and Raul and I did get in touch by e-mail. Last week he and I and his wife Shirley met for lunch at a restaurant near the church where the seminary is located. After lunch we walked over to the church. Once again we prayed together and sang a couple of songs. Shirley told me I have a nice voice and Raul said, I’ll bet you don’t need a mircophone when you preach.
In addition to the seminary, the parish and missions, the parish school, and the two orphanages where I serve as a volunteer missionary, taxis seem to be places of encounter with amigos en Cristo, friends in Christ. On the same 20 minute trip between the seminary and the parish school, another taxi driver, Pedro, asked me why I believe in God. I was wearing a clerical collar this time so it was apparent that I was a priest. I answered him by saying that the order and beauty of the universe; the human ability to speak, remember, imagine and love; the reality of hope and faith in the face of the evil and brokeness that hurt us; these things makes it for me beyond reason to think that the ultimate reality is a speechless, loveless, unconcious nothing. I also said that I grew up in a loving Christian family and from childhood I took Christianity as a simple fact of life. Mom and Dad loved me and my sister and brother. Mom and Dad loved God. Therefore there is a loving God. My faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior came later as I realized more and more that there was something wrong with me and with all of us that I/we can’t fix on our own. We do, in fact, need to be saved.
I ask Pedro if he believed in God. “I don’t know,” he said. He went on, “I was baptized when I was a baby, but we never went to church, we never prayed or read the Bible, my parents did not seem to be happy. I never thought about God. It just didn’t seem important. I grew up to feel that we’re all on our own and that’s it. Now I’m married. I have two children. I want to be a good husband and father. I want to love them, but there are lot’s of temptations. A friend gave me a Bible. I read it. Some of it I understand, some not.”
We got to the school. I told him to find a church where he could learn more and make some Christian friends. I said, “Would you like to say a prayer.” He said, “I’m not sure I know how.” I said, “Say what’s in your heart.” He prayed a simple, heartfelt prayer asking God to help him be a good man and to love his wife and childen. I said, “May I give you a blessing.” He said, “please.” I leaned over, put my arm around his shoulder, made the sign of the Cross, and blessed Pedro in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. I pray for Pedro to this day.
I recently went to Lima to attend a meeting with the Bishop. The flight was scheduled to depart at 6:40 p.m. Due to heavy rain the flight was delayed and then at about 8 p.m. all flights out of Arequipa were canceled. Everyone was trying to reschedule and there was a certain amount of chaos. I seem to have a gift for getting in the slowest line. A family of three, mother, father, and teenaged son, got in three lines so that one of them would get ahead. The mother was next to me in my line. We talked. We shared our faith. Her son got in a fast line and rescheduled their flight. She told him and her husband that they were going to wait for me. I was probably one of the last people to reschedule a flight for the next day. The airport was almost empty. We walked out together into the rain and got a taxi back into town. Her husband said, “What do you sing in your church?” Oh, I said, “the church has a good choir, guitars, a drum, a piano, it’s very nice.” “What’s your favorite song,” he asked. “I like lots of songs,” I said. “Do you know Pescador de Hombres, Fishers of Men?” “Oh yes,” he said. So, we sang Pescador. Then we sang, Renuevame Senor Jesus, Renew me, Lord Jesus.  Then we sang, Busca primero el Reino de Dios, Seek first the Kingdom of God. The taxi driver joined in. Mom, dad, son, taxi driver and me, alabando al Senor, praising the Lord. More taxis, more amigos.
Canon Marvin Bowers is a retired clergyman and may be reached at

fr************@gm***.com











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