I have had the privilege of going to the big apple a few times in my life. “New York New York, big city of dreams, but everything in New York, ain’t always what it seems…” Shout out to Snoop Dogg, don’t judge me…LOL. But I always have an enriched, cultured and fun experience when I am there.
The last time I was there was 2016, for my wedding anniversary. It was my 3rd time there, but my wife’s first. And so, while I tried to take her to all of the spots most tourist don’t think of, we had to hit the touristy spots as well. And of course, in New York, getting to all of those places, makes you, your wallet, and your nerves scream!
There are just some things about the big apple you will never forget. And no, it’s not Broadway or 5th Avenue, I remember; it’s not Harlem, the Apollo, the Statue of Liberty, The One World Tower, or even the Empire State Building. But I will never forget riding in a New York taxi. It is an experience that would take a brain washing machine to erase what it is like to sit in a New York taxi, and have to pray that you make it to where you are headed.
The experience of getting where you want to go can be awful. You don’t know what lane you’re in, what direction you’re headed in, if the cars beside you are going to run you off the road, and you feel lost. But somehow, on time, and a million dollars later, you get there. But what I have discovered is that the New York taxi is very similar to the everyday life.
1. You have to wait on it
You could stand on the corner for a long time waiting on a taxi; trying your best to wave one down and compete with others to get in the car. Life is no different. Sometimes what we go through takes time, and we have to wait on it. Patience and perseverance are necessary in the process. If you really want it, be willing to wait on it. Abraham waited 100 years for a baby, we can wait 100 days for a new opportunity in life.
2. It’s uncomfortable
Whether it is the smell of the taxi on the inside, the dirtiness of the seats, the 80mph in the 40mph zone, where they have created 7 lanes on a four-lane road, riding in a taxi is uncomfortable. What we go through will not be comfortable all the time. It is in the moments of agitation, that we often grow the most. Clothes don’t get clean in a washer machine without agitation. Soap and water don’t do it by itself, but in order for the clothes to become what they are designed to be they have to get agitated. Agitation is a means to exaltation.
3. Everyone can see
Taxis are public transportation, everyone can see me fighting for one, see me riding in one, and sometimes I even had to share one. Reality is there is a whole lot of private pain we will display in public view, even to the point that we have to share it. Sometimes trials will be in view for all to see. Be encouraged that what you endure, will help someone else be encouraged. They'll know since we made it, so can they.
4. Communication is bad
Most likely you end up with a driver that may not speak English as well as you, may have different dialect than you do, they call things one thing and you call them something else, and the communication is frayed. It often feels like that with God in the midst of pain. That I pray and either He doesn’t hear me or He doesn’t understand. But please know, just because God seems silent doesn’t mean he’s absent. Ask Job, God likes to talk behind our backs, and then blow our mind with blessing later.
5. It gets me there
At the end of it all though, the taxi got me to places I couldn’t have ventured to on my own. It was not the best experience getting there, it wasn’t the most fun on the way, but it was because I got in the car that I arrived where I was headed. Trials may not be the best part of our lives, they may be sorely uncomfortable, and we wish they would hurry up, but they do become the transportation to our triumph. Get in the car!!