Caleb

I am back to writing about about a Lyft ride I took to DIA last Sunday morning. It is early Saturday morning, and I am on our lanai in Kauai. I confess to telling my Lyft riders “You are supporting my travel addiction”. It usually makes them smile. As I write I am listening to the cacophony of roosters that are like sparrows in Colorado.

So we have done the math and it is way cheaper and much more convenient to take a Lyft to the airport than to drive and park. We requested the ride and the Lyft app showed the closest driver to be 12 minutes away. Perfect, suitcases to the curb, winter sunshine, we were off to Hawaii. Caleb, red beard and all, pulled up smiling as he accepted the

ride, with a couple and their luggage. In Lyft Driver world 🌎 you hear a little ‘ka-ching’ $$$ as you think, ‘DIA’. He loaded us into his spacious

SUV and we were off.

It was a beautiful Colorado morning and our route to the airport took us along the edge of the foothills with the Boulder Flatirons and Longs Peak to our left and the entire metro region to our right. We had the roads almost to ourselves and the 34 mile ride was a gift. We began the usual back and forth conversation. He told us he runs a small publishing company. “Oh our son in law does something like that he does”. I could not remember its name (BookPros). We chatted another couple of minutes and he looks towards me and says “Your not talking about Christian Piatt are you”? “The one and only”. His very next response was “I love Amy”. “We do to, She is our daughter”. It turns out that he actually stayed at their place when they lived in Portland. Try: patreon.com/CultureCast, it is worth a listen.

We continued an engaging conversation about the sad state of Christianity, and the hijacking of the faith by fundamentalist, right wing, bigots, who have married their politics to a Jesus that doesn’t exist in either the Bible or history. It is an ‘oft told story’ I hear again and again: young people raised in Evangelical/Fundamentalists homes who begin to question these fear-based, self-serving takes on a message that was once about radical inclusion, justice, grace, hope, peace and love of neighbors.

“Please don’t throw the baby out with the bath water 💦 ” I pleaded. “Well, I am standing by the ledge of the window which is open ready to

pitch”. “Probably a place of real faith” I responded. He smiled.

We talked about our common connection through my kid. It was a love fest for the work they do. In the Six Degrees of Separation, we went to two. He said as we pulled into the United Airlines drop off, “I said as I headed out today ‘I just need seven rides to complete my week’. What a

great start”. I replied “Five stars ⭐ ’s, great review, and a tip for all your kids”.

What an unexpected treat to get a ride with such an engaging young man who loves my family. It truly “Lyfted me Up.

Onward and Upward,

Mark— and now a few random Kauai pics