Author: lyftingmeup

I failed retirement. After 10 months of “freedom” I was ready to jump off my balcony. Two different financial advisors had shared with us that we need to generate $xxx dollars to fund our travel addiction. MK was reading the AARP magazine and said “I think I will try driving for Uber”. I said “What’s Uber”. “You remember – last summer in Columbus, Ohio, Amy and Christian used it. People sign up to use their own car to drive people around”. I thought to myself ‘this will last about a week’. I was wrong, after a bit she was off…

Every so often I get a ping, followed by a text message that reads like “This ride is actually for my father. He speaks very limited English, his name is Lupe”. I recognized the address as belonging to the hospital complex at Denver Health. I pulled into the pick up zone at a dialysis clinic. There he was smiling at me in a pretty frail body. He got in the car and we headed to the Park Hill district about 25 minutes away. He thanked me for picking him up. “My English is not so good”. “Well, I speak ‘Spanglish…

A month ago I went on a two-day whirlwind trip to Washington, D.C. to advocate for refugees. It seems that the current administration’s view of our longstanding desire to do our share in welcoming refugees, has been seriously challenged. I was part of a four-person Colorado delegation made up of three clergy types, and a woman who came to Denver at age three as a refugee from Viet Nam. This was not an issue that I had paid much attention to, but as Ken Buck is the congressman representing Greeley and I am a pastor there, someone thought I might…

I picked him up at the RTD Denver International Airport Train Station off of 40th Street. It was one of those pickups where Google’s directions don’t match up with the facts. We finally connected, a hipster with appropriate beard and backpack hopped in my back seat. It was about a 10 minute ride to his home which was just north of City Park. Withoutprompting he said “I used to live downtown. My rent was $850 for a studio. I came back three years later and the same place was $1650. So I found a duplex out here. I loved living…

Joy 🤩 After a month of amazing travel I got back to my Lyfting. Yesterday (Friday) was a reminder that I love doing this for the connections with folk that I encounter. I could write about any one of the 10 rides I gave but to not share with you about this most remarkable young woman would feel like winning the lottery and keeping it a secret. It was ride #9, I had just dropped off a Denver newcomer at the Botanical Gardens and I got “pinged” for a pick up in the same spot. She hopped in the front…

Marion—Never took a Lyft A 95 year old woman passed to the other side today. One of the privileges of spending the last 40+ years in pastoral ministry are the times I have gotten to spend with widows in their 80’s-90’s. If I ever write a book about my life in the church, I might title it “The Strongest People I have ever known— are little old Ladies”. A little over two years ago I made the standard pastoral visit to meet Marion. Marion, who “let go” this afternoon was grace, beauty, wisdom, humor, and ornery wrapped up in what…

4 Rides on a Friday Summer afternoon Ride1– Llama Racer— I picked her up in the midst of a very busy downtown afternoon. She hopped in the car and began a pleasant interchange. “I have got to get home because we are going to the Burro Races in FairPlay this weekend. My boyfriend has a cabin up there and we went last year. I had no idea how much fun it is. Now what I am really excited about is the Llama race on Saturday. Last year I took 4th place”. She the explained to me that people think they…

Birthdays are usually something I enjoy. When I turned four I had a “firecracker” 💥💥💥””” cake 🎂, and a backyard full of kids playing in plastic swimming pools. The day I turned 16 I passed my drivers exam, and I had already saved up enough money to buy a car. I turned 18 in Belgium$ , where the Lecocq family hosted an amazing dinner in my honor. I realized on that 2nd day in Europe that the world was way bigger than Pueblo. I turned 21 in Boulder, and let’s just say it was a “Rocky Mountain High”. I still…

Last week I was headed out of town with my grandson Miko on a road trip to Enid, America (Oklahoma). Miko had agreed to go with me to the headwaters of my college life for a Phillips University reunion. Phillips closed 20 years ago, and I’m not sure I have yet fully recovered from the sadness that I thought I would never have to feel. Anyway, we were headed down 17th St. going to I-70. I was in the left lane of three lanes. At Franklin Street a big A__ truck decided to make a left turn from the center…

In 1964 after completing my freshman year my dad informed me I was going to work at the family owned business—Cleaver Carpet Center. I said, “But I planned on playing baseball, going to the pool and being 15. Instead, I got to ride my bike to work at 6:30 in the morning, prepare the previously washed area rugs for delivery, and head out to return them, picking up another 12-15, cleaning homes with wall-to-wall carpet, scrubbing the haul from the day, and figuring out how to survive the 100’ Pueblo summers. I often worked 55 hours a week for $1.15…