The Lesson From a Nigerian Cab Driver

I think it is fair to say that I’ve done a decent share of travel in my life.  While most of it is usually for business, I do try to make the most of the travel by visiting places that are unique or interesting, and absorbing stories from local folks.

Truth be told, I actually like business travel.  I like it even more when it’s less business and more exploring and, of course, properly balanced with my life at home. On a recent trip to Denver, the travel excitement began with an interesting and reflective story for me, before I even left Detroit. Right around 6:45am on a Monday I got into a cab headed to the airport that was driven by a tall, dark man with a thick accent and a beard. After getting situated in the car, pulling up my flight details on my phone, and checking over a few emails, I ask him what I ask most cab drivers who pick me up from home: “are you originally from Detroit”? After the standard chuckled response, I always enjoy what comes next - because it is a surprise every time.  

This man was from Nigeria and has lived in Detroit now for 25 years. He came to this country to achieve a dream for himself. He went to the University of Michigan to  earn a degree, married a woman he fell in love with, and started a family.  He says “…there is nothing better than this…it is comfortable and nice for me…”. He went on to share how he returns to Nigeria about 2-3 times each year to visit siblings, parents and family who are still living there, and he tells me how he takes time to mentor young boys and young men each time he goes back. He continued sharing by explaining that he is planning to return to Nigeria for good with his wife, children, knowledge and comparative wealth so that he can be more of an influence on the the young people in the town he grew up in.  Listening to him share this part of his story in his deep and firm tone, it sounded to me as if his very soul was establishing this commitment. It appeared to be something very deep in his life and more profound than what I might call a normal life-change than each of us experience at various points in our lives with job changes, or new children being born. 

When I hear this sort of caring response to humanity, it captures my complete attention. I dive straight in and want to know more.  So,  I have to ask what seems logical to me in a very politically correct way: “is this like a religious conviction of yours?” And, here is where things became exciting.  My Nigerian friend said very loudly “NO! Absolutely NOT! Religion is the WORST thing in the world and the cause of WAR EVERYWHERE!” He explained how he was raised Muslim and right around the time he came to the United States he converted to a Pentecostal form of Christianity. That conversion alone seems quite radical to me - clearly this guy is searching for some answers!  However, he says that he has rejected that conversion, and all forms of religion because he feels they only teach hate by saying their message is the right way to God.  He began harping on the Pentecostal pastors he met both here in the USA and in Nigeria by saying they ask for money and claim to give the people some spiritual power and authority over “everything” in their life, yet the people live in filth while the pastors live in big homes and fly private jets. It appears my question touched off a very sensitive nerve here, and his passionate tirade went on for a good while.  Oddly (and somewhat surprising to me) though, my Catholic religious convictions came up and he quieted down, saying that the Catholics were the only religious people he would ever respect. This puzzled me… Wether he shared this because I was his paying customer or not, I guess I’ll never know, but he offered some context for that quieted & respectful response.  He says “The catholics built the school in his home town, the catholics built the hospital in his home town, and the catholics never fly private jets, and the catholics always give and never ask for anything in return”. The Nigerian man and I parted ways at the airport a little while later, but this conversation really stuck with me for a few days and I tried to see things from his perspective as best I could, while bing objective as well.

After thinking this through for a while, I began to see the power of perception.  Maybe my Nigerian friend did not hear of “Bishop Bling” who was released from his post in Germany because of glutinous overspending on his private mansion. Maybe he is unaware of the child-abuse cases that the church is reeling from. Or maybe he is unaware of the countless other mistakes that have been made (and have yet to be made) by the people within the Catholic church. Or, maybe he is aware of these things, but because these mistakes are not directly impacting his world, they didn’t have the weight to carry any passionate disgust. Instead, what he is actually seeing are life giving actions happening in his home town by Catholics: hospitals, schools, and a generally humble way of life.

Having spent considerable time raised in various Pentecostal traditions myself, I can appreciate the concern he has to the opulent appearance of money, power, authority and selfishness within this religious tradition. However, these problems aren’t limited to just Pentecostalism. However, it is easy to be critical with failed examples of popular televangelists like Jim Baker, Jimmy Swaggert, Benny Hin but also with Catholic leaders like Franz-Peter Tebart-van Elst. IN these cases, living a life of Christian Humility, Sacrifice and Compassion appeared absent and actually ended in tragedy for some, thus making it easy for the audience to get very angry. When I read what Jesus constantly taught and then I learn about how he actually operated His life with humility, sacrifice and compassion, I can understand why the crowds came looking for something that was different than the traditional human message of Power, Authority and Self-Focus.

It seems to me that most [Christian] religions or traditions get a bad rap by folks primarily because it includes humans who have made terrible decisions. Then, things get worse because other humans start claiming that terrible mistake that was made now means that the entire religion or tradition is the “wrong one” to find God. Now I can’t speak to non-christian religions like Islam, Buddhism, or Hinduism because I’ve never really studied them.  But if I learn what true religion is from a Christian perspective, I see that it is supposed to include humility, sacrifice and compassion and keeping oneself pure or unstained from fault (James 1:26-27). 

Now, putting this thought under a more internal and reflective lens, I have to wonder: How do I avoid falling into the easy trap of criticizing these men and women who make an embarrassment out of the word “Christian”? How do I avoid criticizing 21st century men and women for their interpretation of Christianity, when it appears to point to comfort instead of sacrifice, power instead of compassion, or authority instead of humility (or how about “The Mall” instead of “The Soup Kitchen” or the private jet and new car instead of a borrowed donkey)? Perhaps these men and women claim some special understanding of a “Christian Power”, but truly it is the meek, merciful, and peacemakers who really have this so called “Christian Power” (Matthew 5:2-11).  Something powerful and healing must happen in me, in order to function out of a compassionate heart and remain unstained from fault. In fact, it must be a work of mercy and forgiveness happening in me to demonstrate genuine acts of compassion, humility and sacrifice toward those who do embarrass the “Christian Life”. Aren’t I just as hypocritical if I see a terrible flaw in someones teaching or beliefs and then separate myself from them, and hold merciless thoughts or angry reactions against them? This too is an embarrassment to Christianity.

Now, I’m not quite good enough to call myself an an armchair theologian and I certainly do not have any formal or academically sound diagnosis to share here, but what I think I am seeing is this: When the focus of Christianity is centered on comfort, power or authority it appears to be some kind of serious misunderstanding of Christianity - - like an illness or affliction. The results that I see coming from a teaching of power, authority and self focus are hardly life giving to the communal body we are part of. Really, this looks to me as the direct opposite of the teachings of Jesus. It’s almost like a sickness, of self focus.  So, if these traits are some form of sickness, then what shall I do? Well, then my heart must be moved to compassion and not to criticism. And, I should work to bring “peacemaker” medicine  to these sick folks, rather than an exercise of power or authority over them affliction (Matthew 14:14). 

Pondering this further, I consider three aspects that Christ never grew tired of demonstrating: Compassion, Humility, and Sacrifice to everyone he met. So, my next step is to explore examples of real people who have taken on a life of humility and compassion and

Bishop Oscar Romero

sacrifice in a more modern environment. How wonderful it is to find such heroes who won millions of hearts across all spectrums of religion, philosophy and practices - a lot like what Jesus did - with these three actions: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Theresa of Calcutta, Corrie ten Boom, Fr. Solanus Casey, Oscar Romero or Cesar Chavez.  I wonder if their focus had instead been a belief that they had power, or authority over the issue at hand (even if they were still correct in their cause), would they have made as much of a profound impact on the social justice triumphs they are known for?

As I see it, if everyone made the mistake of being too compassionate, too humble, too sacrificial it would be a lot easier to forgive, than making the mistake of being too powerful, too authoritative, or too self focused.  Perhaps with this kind of better “mistake”, I just might see Christ as He may have wanted to be seen.  So, my take away from all this comes to a crux: In one moment I can choose a quick and easy way of commanding a situation with a human understanding of “Christian” power and authority.  Or, I can choose a memorable way of earning the hearts of people with the “Christian” power of Compassion, Sacrifice and Humility.  

Perhaps I’ll have a chance to meet my Nigerian friend again some day and feed him some  powerfully compassionate medicine.  In the mean time, I should find a way to live loudly with merciful actions of medicine to everyone else.