How to be a Christian cab driver isn’t something they teach you in Bible College, so I had to learn it the hard way. When I first started driving a taxi, I memorized the parable of the wedding feast, in Matthew 20, and used it as my mantra as I drove up and down the streets for my 12-hour shift.

I didn’t want to get fired, because you weren’t supposed to discuss politics or religion with the customers, but God’s law supersedes man’s law, and I was required to fulfill the Great Commission. So I brought some "This Was Your Life!" Chick tracts with me, put one in the back seat on the floor, and two more on the dashboard on the passenger side. If I ever felt led of the spirit, I’d say something about God, but I would never push it.

Most people could give a rat’s ass about God, so it rarely comes up. But after a few days driving, I picked up a guy at Beamer’s Lounge who got into the front seat and was in a really good mood. He asked me all kinds of personal questions. He wanted to know if I was married, if I had any kids, what kind of education I had. And when he found out I had been a minister, he started talking about God and faith. I got really excited, and the next thing you know, we were talking like old friends. He was a Christian and was interested in starting to go to church again, so I told him about some of the fellowships he might want to attend.

When we were almost to his address he told he to pull into the mini-mart on the street next to his house so he could pick something up. He said that he would be right back, and since he was a brother in the Lord I didn’t run the meter. Then he came out with a 12-pack of beer, and said that he lived next door, so he would walk home.

"Wait," I told him. "You owe me $16.45."

"Let Jesus pay it," my passenger said, and continued walking.

I got out of the car, chased him down, told him to pay me or I’d call the police.

“Oh, so now Jesus doesn’t matter?” he said, in a mocking tone of voice.

"Our relationship has graduated from the gospels to the epistles," I told him. "According to the apostle Paul, we are to ‘owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.’ And I’m going to call the law if you don’t pay up.”

After he paid me, I filled up my gas tank, since I was over half empty, and ended up booking nearly $300 for the night, although tips were low. When I turned in the car that morning, I cleaned all the debris off the floors and seats, including the Chick tracts.