Uber-esque

Have you ever wondered what it is like to be an Uber driver?  No?  Neither have I, but this last week I had the opportunity to serve like one.  At least it felt what I think an Uber driver must feel like.

It started with picking Narah up from the airport last Monday night as she was returning from a wedding that she was in in Idaho.  We were looking forward to having her home.

Next trip to the airport was to pick up a family of six returning from a short furlough on Tuesday morning.  The last time I picked them up (a year ago) the van was bursting at the seams with luggage because with Southwest you get two bags free per person.  Even the baby had two suitcases last time and this time as well.  I was smarter this time and loaded the Rocket Box on top of the van for over-flow.  They are moving to a tribal location soon so it was good to catch up with them as we will see them a lot less after they move in to their remote location in Mexico.

To back up a little bit on that Tuesday, we have been taking care of our friends house while the wife and kids have been in Germany for two months and her husband is deployed.  I was mowing their lawn when Narah told me that they (the wife and kids) were flying in that night and would need a ride from the airport.  We expected them later in the week but their flight was going to get in only one hour after our co-workers were getting in.  So that would mean I pick up our co-workers, take them to the guest house, turn around and go back to the airport, pick up our friends, and take them home.

All that would have flowed seamlessly except Narah had a meeting that she could not miss so we had to get a babysitter to watch the kids because neither our co-workers nor our friends had a vehicle that we could use so I had to use our van to do the airport runs.  It was late enough in the evening that I was able to stop at Narah’s meeting and she was just finishing her meeting so I picked her up and we went home to relieve the babysitter as she was waiting to go to dinner with her family.

The next morning there was a couple at the Guest House that was flying out for a couple of weeks to visit supporters.  They are not direct co-workers with us but we have developed a good relationship over the years here and it was good catching up with them.  The family that I  had picked up the night before needed to go to the social security office and because the couple flying that morning only had a small car we again had to take our van back to the airport and then beyond to the s.s. office.

Somewhere in the midst of that I had the thought that this is what an Uber driver must feel like.  Running ragged all over the city and juggling life in the midst of the semi-chaos.

Do you ever feel like an ‘Uber Driver’?  Take comfort in knowing that your work is not in vain.  We feel we are filling a much needed role for our field and we hope you feel the same wherever you are serving.