Here’s a fun fact: 3,500 taxis serve the Orlando International Airport. The very first time Josh and I returned from representing Jesus Film Project® in Josh’s new role as executive director, we jumped in the first taxi in the line, anxious to be home with our four children. Exhausted from so many new interactions, we hardly had the energy to speak. But the worship music coming from the taxi’s radio was too good of an opportunity to miss. After asking, “Do you like worship music, sir?” our driver, Pierre, was soon sharing his life story.
“I was born in a tiny village in Haiti. We were so poor. And when my little brother was five, he became very sick. My family took him to the local healer who took all our money – which was about five dollars. He gave us fake medicine that killed my brother.”
Pierre spent every night afterwards plotting his revenge on the healer and his family. He knew when he was finally a man at age 18, he would go into their hut and murder them all. Every night, as he fell asleep, he told himself “one day, I will avenge my brother.”
On his 12th birthday, a preacher came to Pierre’s village. Pierre heard about the love of Jesus for the first time.
“Jesus saved me from being a murderer! Now I could forgive and even say ‘good morning’ to those I had planned to kill for years. Now I go on my day off door to door and tell people about Jesus. I go with only my Bible and my testimony.”
Josh jumped right in – “Have you heard of the ‘JESUS’ film? We have it in Haitian Creole.” Pierre watched a few moments of the film on the app and he was hooked.
It was our privilege to give him a box of 200 “JESUS” DVDs to distribute. Pierre said “You can take my picture for all the people who make it possible for me have these films.”
Months later, my daughter and I flew home from a mission trip to Mexico. Looking down on the lights of Orlando, I felt melancholy. Josh wasn’t able to meet us at the airport and even after six months of living in Orlando, it still didn’t feel like home. In the evening humidity, we waited patiently in line for a taxi. And who should pull up next but the only taxi driver I know in the whole world – Pierre. Neither one of us could believe it. In between telling us stories about how he has given away the 200 “JESUS” DVDs, he kept saying, “It’s a miracle, a miracle.”
For me, Pierre’s arrival in my life is a reminder of Psalm 31:15: “my times – even the ones in taxi lines – are in Your hands.”
You can give the gift of “JESUS” into the hands of others around you. Check out the various opportunities to give “JESUS”!
