30 Nov A New York City Cab Ride and A Taste of Heaven

A few years ago, my husband and I were headed to Italy to celebrate our 10th anniversary when our flight out of JFK airport was delayed overnight due to weather. At midnight, we found ourselves in need of a hotel room and a cab ride across town.

My hubby hailed a cab and we jumped into the SUV with the driver and another passenger who was also heading across town. It was midnight and I was tired but the lights of the city were bright and inviting. Our cab driver was very kind and turned on some music for our ride. As I listened to the lyrics of the song playing in another language, instantly I was struck by an odd knowledge – I had heard this song before!

I said to our cab driver, “Are you from Ghana?” To which he replied, “YES! how did you know?” I told him that I recognized the language of the song that was playing and made the connection. I shared with him that my husband and I met in Ghana when we did a Christian missions trip there in 2000.

He laughed with delight and cranked up the music and we all began to sing. The other passenger, a lovely young Korean girl, smiled and said, “So you met on a missions trip?” “Yes,” I said. She shared that she, too, is a Christ-follower and had just moved to NYC to begin studying to be a dentist.

At that point our cab driver exclaimed, “Praise the Lord!” He cranked up the amazing Ghanaian music (which happened to be worship music) and we all began to sing together.

A Taste of Heaven

For one hour in New York City traffic in the dead of night, four strangers from completely different nations and cultures recognized one another as family.

We turned our gaze to Heaven, praying for and with each other and for the city we were driving through.

We worshipped God together. The presence of Christ Himself was with us in that car.

Almost in tears at the serendipity of the moment, a Scripture came to my mind:

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen” (Revelation 7:9-12).

As our ride came to a close and we pulled up to our hotel, we exchanged contact information and hugs all around.

I will always think of that cab ride when I picture Heaven. Heaven, the real place that every believer is anticipating as their eternal home, is not a homogeneous abode. It is fully alive with colors, tribes, peoples, and languages. It is a place bursting with the beautiful diversity of a wise and artistic God.

Just a thought to ponder – do our friendships and communities here on earth reflect the diversity that we will encounter in Heaven? Perhaps, just perhaps, if not, we can take a step beyond our comfort zones into the lives and homes of those who look and speak differently than us, who will in turn show us a new dimension of God Himself and a taste of Heaven.