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I picked them up in Park Hill at a lovely 1920’s Tudor style home 🏡 with a gorgeous yard full of flowers 💐, and ‘just right’ landscaping.  They came out of the house and walked down the sidewalk looking as if they were attending the Academy Awards.  They got in the backseat and we headed to the Brown Palace.  We weren’t a block away when a conversation (argument) broke out that had obviously started before I ever picked them up.  It never escalated to yelling or name calling, but I (as the fly on the wall) realized this was not…

I have resisted in these past months to play my pastor/narrative-theologian card.  What I have focused on is what it is like to give rides to the wide array of humans who just need a lift.  I have enjoyed reflecting on interactions with folks who might not have a clue that I am a pastor/minister/preacher.  Today I picked her up at a hotel close to the capital and she needed a ride to Union Station to catch the train to DIA, right in the middle of rush hour.  The GPS said we were in for a 17 minute ride.  She…

It seemed like an ordinary house in old Englewood. The destination was an office building downtown. She got in the car and said, “I hope you don’t mind, I have some errands to run”. “No problem, we will just change the destination at your stops”. I had no idea that we had five of them in our future .  Stop #1 was at her job in central Denver. She was dropping off some paperwork. The downtown traffic was the usual ‘sh__ show’ and there was construction all around it, which meant that trying to find a place to park might…

It was a while back about 10 in the evening. I was taken into a gated community that I didn’t even know existed. To say it was exclusive would understate the ambiance. I found the house then waited about 10 minutes for the rider to arrive. He had called me and informed me it would take time and asked me to wait. I had no problem with that, as I was listening to a Rockies baseball game. He came walking out of this palatial home to my car 🚗 as he negotiated winding stairs. He was carrying what I would…

It’s back to school time.  For my Lyft driving what this means is; look out for School Zones, and the morning traffic becomes even more let’s say, ‘clogged’.  In my two years of Lyft driving I have had a couple of dozen rides where an adult calls for a ride but the passenger is a child. I have done everything from taking two kids to a sleepover in a downtown high rise, to picking up four wild boys after baseball practice.  Often the adult who is ordering the ride will call to make sure I understand the situation, and to…

This must be my month for giving rides to families on vacation.   It was last Sunday and I thought I might entertain myself with some Lyft driving.  I picked them up in a classic old neighborhood in South Denver. I realized when I saw the whole crew standing in the driveway with four bags and a guitar case, that we were headed to DIA.  Putting all the belongings and two kids and a tall athletic dad in my car was a bit like solving one of those IQ test puzzles—we won!!!   They were from Western Montana (the mountainous…

The drive between Washington Park and Greeley is becoming a well worn path. I learned very quickly that the best way to there is not I-25, but rather to go up the old highway 85. It is travel the way I grew up; stop lights, drive-in food restaurants, farms and farmers and many local homegrown businesses like Big Ed’s Radiators. It is a very busy drive but it is absent of the frenetic lane dodging as you work your way up the stop and starts of the New Colorado (AKA SoCal Light). For the second time I turned on my…

I was headed home when I got the ‘ping’ about two blocks from our place.  The “pin” showed the pick up near the Boat House at Washington Park.  As I pulled up I saw four folk standing out on the corner staring at a smart phone.  That is almost always a sign that they are my future passengers.  It was a Mom and three young kids, who I soon found out were 14 (daughter),12 (son), and 10 (daughter).  They were no more in my car than I knew by their very proper British accent they were not from Texas.  Their…

Last October it was news that the Colorado Department of Transportation announced that they were participating in an experimental use of a driverless truck. You can read all about it by clicking this link: http://www.denverpost.com/2017/06/29/self-driving-beer-truck-world-record/    From time to time I have interesting conversations with with Lyft riders about how I feel about the possibility of being replaced by SIRI. So it was, this week as I took Tim off to meet a friend at a bar in LODO. He represents a demographic that no longer owns a car. “I sold my car. I figured that by what I save…