Yes, another driving metaphor. I guess there are themes :) I began this thinking about how difficult it is to ask for rides, and how in some ways I*d just as soon stay at home than ask for a ride. But there are people who have offered rides free and clear and I know it is free and clear of any tolls which show up on the bill later. Often they are folk who have been through similar things and know what it means not to drive for awhile, or for more than awhile. As I wrote, I remembered Pastor Davis, sent back into my life in January, recognizing me from across the parking lot at Staples in Bolingbrook. God-sent. I knew he was God-sent. And he is reminder today of things given free and clear, God in the midst.
It seems free rides
Are often anything but free.
They extract a toll even
When no money is involved.
They are like the automatic tickers
On the tollroads,
Noticed when the credit card expires,
The I-Pass account has run low.
There is a tollbooth collector
At Boughton and 355.
He pastors a congregation
For free.
He used to wave me on through
When he could,
Always asked about family.
When he said God bless you
He meant it.
I use I-Pass now.
No pastor in the tollbooth for me.
I rarely even pass Boughton and 355.
When I bought IKEA furniture for the office
In January,
I found him in the parking lot
At Staples,
Waving, shouting
I thought it was you
It had to be you.
God bless you!
He works on the tollway,
Pastors a congregation for free.
He knows free rides.
He still knows how to give rides
Free and clear.
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