conversation with a cab driver

We needed a ride to the airport on our last day of vacation. So we called an airport shuttle service. A guy named Darnell came to pick us up. It's about a 20-minute ride to the airport so that gave me a chance to converse with Darnell. I sat in the front seat with him. During the course of our conversation, he asked me what I did for a living in Ohio. I said, "I'm a pastor at a church near Canton...in Amish country. Darnell had tons of questions about the Amish. He was especially intrigued by the fact that my next door neighbors are Amish. Then things got quiet for a moment. After a few seconds of silence, Darnell says, "You're a pastor...can I ask you something?"

"Go for it," I replied.

He said, "When it comes to paying the tithe, should you tithe on your net income or the gross?"

I said, "Have you been reading my blog?" (I didn't really ask him that, but it was an amazing question considering it's coming from a complete stranger and I just blogged about that very subject less than two weeks ago.)

I went on to tell him some of the stuff I shared in my blog post. I told him about the principle of first fruits. I told him that how much a person gives is between that person and God. Basically, shared with him the things I shared here in my blog.

He goes on to say, "The reason I asked is because I'm brand new to all this. I'm just beginning my walk with Christ and my wife and I want to be faithful givers. So we just wrote our first tithe check last Sunday."

I congratulated him on his act of obedience and told him that the Lord will honor that.

He said, "It was so hard to write that check. Because it's a lot of money. And we're not exactly sure how we're going to make it, but we decided to trust God with it."

I said, "Man, that is huge! I'm so happy for you. What a great step of faith and obedience."

He replied, "What you're saying about the tithe is exactly what my pastor is saying. So thank you, I feel better about it now."

He dropped us off at the airport and helped us with our bags. I tipped him well, shook his hand, wished him the best and headed into the terminal in awe of the God-appointment I had been blessed to experience.