A session was cancelled tonight and because of that, I took a cab home. It turned out to be another one of those rides, which were worth the fare. First, the driver updated me about the jams on the different expressways and asked me if I had any preferred route. I left it to him to decide.
During the journey, he opted for a long and winding way along Old Holland Road to connect to Bukit Timah Road. That stretch was one I had never taken before. It was beautiful. There were many big houses on both sides of the road and close to the end of it, there was a big field on the left. I could see a woman with her two kids at the edge of the field, four men talking beside two parked cars next to the field, and one man whose dog was scampering across the field. The sun was almost setting and so the sky over the field was a hazy blue of many shades with orange tinges peeping through the clouds. I tried taking photos but managed only four blurry shots. At the end of the road on the right, I saw the MGS school for the first time. It was well-lit and looked so big and so spacious.
We turned out of the road and straight into a jam along Upper Bukit Timah Road. This set me talking again about crowded roads, MRT stoppages, inadequate public infrastructure, the government, Lee Kuan Yew, ministers, especially the rude and arrogant ones, as well as upstarts looking to make a mark. Then we turned to George Yeo. I shared with him my thoughts by starting like this: "Oh, well, since George Yeo is a Catholic and I'm a Christian, I believe that God set him aside for higher things." The cab driver replied and said, "Oh, I'm a Christian, too! And yes, he has that Vatican thing now."
Given that, we started talking about faith and other Christian topics. City Harvest came up and I shared with him how I was led to a view on that as a result of some words. He then asked me whether I was from City Harvest and I said no. The discusson on City Harvest was quite long but thought-provoking.
He then asked me if I read the Bible daily. I said I did so during my rides to the office in the mornings and used a daily guide which contained verses from various parts of the Bible. I told him that I didn't really like that because the verses were not set in their proper context. And I told him that I also set aside time on Sundays to study the Bible, a book at a time.
The cab driver then noted that one should wake up earlier in the morning to set aside time for daily devotion so that one was prepared for the day ahead, and that the night was meant for one to reflect on the verses as well as on the day just past. I told him frankly that I found it tough waking up, much less waking up earlier for morning devotion. He asked me: "What is the first thing you do when you wake up?" I replied: "Oh, I brush my teeth." He laughed and said: "Actually the first thing we should do when we wake up is to thank God for giving us a new day."
At the end of the ride, he turned to me and said: "I hope you were okay with what I said?" I replied: "Of course, this must be a divine encounter and we may yet meet each other again some time in the future." I smiled at him and alighted from the cab.
