God in a Paris Taxi

“God is Love and those who abide in love abide in God” 1John 4.7-16

My eight year old grandson and I had just been to the top of the Eiffel Tower, a dream of a lifetime for us both. We climbed the stairs as far as they would let us and the took the elevator the rest of the way. The 360 degree view of the rooftops of Paris was daunting, thrilling and breathtaking. Lane’s smile will stay with me for the rest of my life.

The walk from our hotel took about 45 minutes, so after climbing all the stairs I decided we would splurge and take a taxi back. When we got out the the street there were oodles of black taxis and men in black standing beside them and my worry factor set in wondering how I could pick the right one, one who was safe and kind. Then I met Sidali Mokhtre.

Before he let us get in the car, Sidali looked up the address to where we were going and said “that will be 35 euros. Is that ok?” “ yes I said, we walked here and we climbed to the top and we would love a ride back. Thanks.”

And off we went. And I began a conversation…are you from Paris and how long have you been a taxi driver? And here is what I learned.

Yes he is from Paris and has been driving a taxi for two years, But Sidali and his sister have a transportation business. They own three cars and they transport clients around the city which they have been doing for nine years. He asked me what I did and I told him, and he said “So you are a Christian.” And I said yes, but I am a Christian who believes there are as many ways to God as there are people in the world.” And the floodgates opened…He told me he was a Muslim, and he had many Christian friends and Jewish friends. In fact, he said, one of his clients is Jewish. “And she is the oldest living Holocaust survivor.” (See below)

But then he went on to tell about his other clients, adults with Alzheimers, children and adults with autism and others who can’t take care of themselves. And we talked and talked about the pain in the world and the love of God and Allah and Yahweh

And shalom, salaam and peace. His final words were “Religion is not the problem; people are the problem.” As we parted, I gave him one of my beloved friend Susan’s kindness rocks that said Thanks on it, and we said goodbye.

A Muslim, a Christian and a Jew, a taxi story and God in the center of it all.

Ginette Kolinka (born Ginette Cherkasky; 4 February 1925) is a French Holocaust survivor. When her father and brother were taken away to be killed by poison gas, shortly after the train on which they had been transported arrived at Auschwitz, she was selected for factory work and taken to the women's camp. Released in May 1945, she remained silent about her war-time experiences for half a century. Her own explanation for this is that she did not wish to irritate people. Whatever the truth of that, after her husband died, and soon after the dawn of a new century, she became an energetic "ambassador for the memory" of those times, criss-crossing the country to share her holocaust knowledge with school children and students. Thanks to the ensuing media exposure, it is no longer only among children and students that, during the first decades of the twenty-first century, she has heightened awareness of the Shoah and its lessons.^[1][2][3][4]