05/06/2026
My Very First UBER Ride….
I was reminded of this story that I have not thought about in some time when a man named Chuck Lineback commented on the recent post about the CISM opportunity. I have not communicated with Chuck in nearly six years. He remembered this story as part of a series of connected stories I shared in November 2013 and tied together by a phrase that I uttered then, …But wait there’s more…”
In 2016, I was recruited to teach classes on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security. Specifically, I would become a contract instructor to teach emergency management classes for the healthcare sector through the Center for Domestic Preparedness. As Chuck recalls, I was recommended for this assignment by someone who was aware of my work through the Near Southwest Preparedness Alliance, a federally-funded healthcare coalition based in Roanoke. Chuck would be my direct supervisor in this instructor role. In fact, my first teaching assignment was in Iowa November 14-15, 2016. Chuck and I would co-teach this inaugural offering together. I struggled feeling qualified for this instructor role and intimidated that I’d be teaching with my “boss.” This was compounded by the fact I couldn’t meet the travel expectations for this first assignment. Ideally, it was expected that instructors would arrive at the airport near the host city location in as close to the same time as possible. On the travel day of that Sunday, I was unable to comply with this. I had previously accepted an invitation to minister at Calvary Baptist Church in Floyd on that Sunday (11/13/16) the designated travel day for this training assignment. Chuck arrived in Des Moines in the early afternoon on that Sunday. My flight would not arrive until very late Sunday night. Chuck would get the rental car and drive to our hotel about an hour from the airport. I would need to arrange alternate transportation. That became my first ever UBER RIDE.
If it wasn’t my first ever UBER RIDE, it was the first time I used the APP to order an UBER. It was November 13, 2016 after 11:00 pm when I arrived in Des Moines. I ordered an UBER after retrieving my luggage from baggage claim. As I recall, I had to order the UBER a couple of times as “my order” kept getting dropped. I didn’t understand how the APP worked. In any case, my UBER finally arrived curbside to pick me up. My driver was nice enough and soon we were on our way. I don’t remember explicitly what prompted the comment, but the driver shared with me that he was of the Muslim faith. I had only been a born again Christian for a year.
Early into the drive, I was unctioned in my spirit to share my testimony with this man. I was hesitant to do so. After a few moments, I shared a couple of sentences with him and then sat quietly in the back of the car. There was no indication that he wanted to hear what I shared. Out of ignorance, I was expecting that if I said too much, he would stop the car and just drop me on the side of the road in the middle of the night. As I sat quietly, I was convicted in my spirit, “I told you to share your testimony.” I then used the balance of our ride to tell him the whole of the story that had unfolded over the past 15 months. I could hear that the driver was connecting with the Gospel message of what I was sharing.
About an hour later, right around midnight, we pulled up in front of the hotel. As I got out of the back seat in the right side of the car, he exited from the driver’s side. As I walked around to the trunk, he hurriedly (about running) came around from the opposite direction and slammed into me. He embraced me with a hug. He was sobbing and exclaimed that no one had ever told him about Jesus before. He cancelled the fee for the UBER (he didn’t charge me) and gave me a business card. He proclaimed that while I was in Iowa if I needed a ride to call him, he would pick me up and take me anywhere.
I never knew whether he ever made a profession of faith or received his salvation. The whole, “But wait, there’s more…” was an expression relating to a series of events that had unfolded over the past year of the infancy of this ministry work that was being birthed through My Brothers’ Crossing. It’s been a long time since I have thought about that first UBER ride. I enjoyed reconnecting in a phone call late Tuesday evening as I drove to Powhatan, VA.
In a current, but wait, there’s more twist, the man who had most recently pastored the Calvary Baptist Church where I ministered on November 13, 2016 is the ten-year veteran chaplain and western region supervisor at River North Correctional Center. This is the facility where I am currently serving as a Special Assignment Chaplain 15-20 hours a week. This former pastor is now my current supervisor in this temporary assignment.
