You Will Know the Truth and the Truth Will Set You Free
Last week, I was giving a nice mom and daughter a ride out to Hilton Head Island. Both were golfers headed to stay at a luxurious golf course. The daughter sat quietly playing a game of Sudoku.
As we were driving, the mom casually asked me, “Why are you driving Uber?”
Friends, anytime someone asks you about your life, it’s an incredible moment to share what God has done with your story. So I told her:
“Well, I’m living in a country music song right now: my wife left me, my dog died, and I was a real estate agent, but the market is about as slow as molasses.”
I usually get a very quiet response to this, and then I turn it around with:
“But I’m incredibly thankful, because if none of this had happened to me, I wouldn’t know who God is. And knowing God is the most important thing in my life right now.”
Then I pause to see what kind of response I get. The people who know what I’m talking about usually answer with something like:
“That is so great. God helped me through XYZ hard time in my life.”
They often say they wouldn’t change the experience for the world. Their stories have been inspiring. Their hardships have been much, much harder than mine.
In this instance, that hadn’t happened yet. The mom pushed back.
“Oh yeah? Well, in our country not many people believe in God. What makes you think God is real?”
She wasn’t prepared for my answer. Not many people are prepared for their Uber driver to be an expert on philosophy.
“I know God is real because of extreme coincidences,” I replied.
When I look back at my life, I think about all of the extreme coincidences—the random great things that were unplanned by me. That’s where I know God is real.
The mom replied, “Like what?”
I said, “One day my son didn’t feel like going to school, and I didn’t feel like going to work. So we both called out and went to throw a frisbee in the park.”
A stranger walked up to us and told me that God loves me and has an awesome plan for my life. He invited me to a church service happening right there in the middle of the park in downtown.
The service started like a normal non-denominational worship service. Except at the end, the preacher came down to pray with people, and as he touched them, they fell down.
Now, I had seen this on TV before and thought it was fake. But I was so curious that I stayed. He walked up to me, prayed with me, and that’s when I fell backward.
The mom, captivated by the story, said, “And what happened?”
I said, “The entire field of people started speaking in another language that didn’t sound like anything I had ever heard.”
Friends, this is the Holy moment.
The mom was like, “Wow, that is just unbelievable. How strange.”
However, the 18-year-old daughter, who had been quiet the whole time, suddenly spoke up.
“Actually Mom, this is in the Bible.”
And THEN she referenced the exact verse: 1 Corinthians 14:2
“For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to human beings but to God, for no one understands; he utters mysteries in the Spirit.”
I was at a red light. I turned my head around to look at the daughter and said, “Sounds like she knows!”
The mom looked at her daughter and asked, “Sweetie, how did you know that?”
The daughter said casually, “Well Mom, I was curious about the most important book in the whole world, so I read the whole thing.”
It turns out the daughter wants to be a neurosurgeon and is also studying psychology.
Then the daughter asked me, “So there was a speaker of tongues—but was there an interpreter? Because 1 Corinthians 14:27 says:
‘If anyone speaks in a tongue, let it be two or at most three, and each in turn, and one should interpret.’”
The mom looked at her daughter like she had seen a ghost.
It’s very possible this girl had a photographic memory.
For the rest of the trip, it wasn’t me talking to them anymore. It was the mother and daughter talking to each other about the Bible and about God.
At the end of the trip, I asked the daughter if I could pray with her. She said yes.
Before she left, I looked at the Sudoku book she was holding in her hand and told her:
“Do you know how in Sudoku there is only one right answer, and you should do your best to never guess?”
She looked at me and said yes.
I said, “The Bible says you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free. When you are unsure in life what to do, always use the Truth—and never guess.”
