Uber Chronicles #2: “The Season of Questions”

Something happens when the college year starts coming to an end.

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Introduction

I’ve discovered something interesting about having a gray beard.
Apparently, once your beard reaches a certain level of gray, people automatically assume you’ve unlocked the secrets of life.I don’t remember taking the test.
I don’t remember receiving a certificate.
But over the past few weeks, college students riding in my Uber have increasingly been asking me for advice.
Not because I’m an expert.
Mostly because my beard suggests I’ve survived enough mistakes to be worth consulting.
As the college year comes to an end, I’ve noticed something changing in the conversations.
The questions are becoming deeper.
And in those questions, I found a reminder about life, faith, and what really matters.

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Watch the Video

The Reflection

Something happens when the college year starts coming to an end. Over the past couple of weeks, my Uber rides have felt different. The conversations have become more reflective.

Students are talking about where they’ll live next year. What classes they’ll take. Summer jobs. Internships. Relationships. Whether they should transfer. Whether they picked the right major.

And for those graduating, the questions seem even bigger.
Now what?
What comes next?
What if I make the wrong choice?
What if I don’t have it all figured out?

It’s interesting to watch.

For most of the year, the conversations are about surviving the next exam, making it to the weekend, or finding a parking spot somewhere on campus. Then suddenly May and June arrive, and people begin looking beyond next week and start thinking about the next chapter of life.

What’s been even more interesting is how many of them have started asking me for advice. Not directly, of course. They’ve learned how to do it politely. No one wants to look at a guy with a gray beard and say, “You’ve been around forever. What have you learned?”

Instead, they say things like:
“You seem like you’ve had a lot of life experiences.”
“You look like you’ve enjoyed your years.”
“What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned?”

Or my personal favorite:
“What’s some wisdom from all the gray?”

At least they’re trying. I appreciate the effort.

The funny thing is that these conversations remind me that no matter how old we are, we’re all asking many of the same questions.

We just ask them differently.
At twenty-two, you’re wondering if you’re choosing the right career.
At forty-two, you’re wondering if you chose the right career.
At sixty-two, you’re wondering whether you spent enough time on the things that mattered most.

The questions change shape, but they never completely disappear.

So what do I tell them? Usually something like this:
– Find something you enjoy doing and figure out how to make a living doing it.
– Life is too short to spend every day doing something you hate simply because someone else told you it was the “safe” choice.

I also tell them something I wish more people understood:
You don’t have to have everything figured out.
In fact, almost nobody does.
The people who seem like they have life perfectly mapped out are often making it up one step at a time just like everyone else.

Life isn’t a straight line.
It’s a series of adjustments, detours, opportunities, mistakes, discoveries, and unexpected turns.
The pressure to know exactly what you’ll be doing ten years from now is exhausting.
Most people don’t know.
And that’s okay.

But if there’s one thing I hope they remember, it’s this:
Don’t lose people.
Careers matter.
Education matters.
Goals matter.
But people matter more.

At the end of life, nobody gathers around to celebrate how many emails you answered, how many meetings you attended, or how many followers you accumulated.
They remember the people who loved them.
The people who stayed.
The people who showed up.
The people who laughed with them, cried with them, encouraged them, forgave them, and walked alongside them.

So, Keep your people close.
Call your parents.
Text your friends.
Make time for relationships.
Learn names.
Listen to stories.
Build a life that includes people, not just accomplishments.

Because someday you’ll discover what many of us with a little gray hair have learned:
The best parts of life were never the things.
They were always the people.

As I dropped off another student this week, they thanked me for the advice.

I thanked them for the reminder.
Because every generation needs wisdom.
And every generation needs hope.
And sometimes both can be found in the backseat of an Uber.

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And Then It Hit Me

After writing this, I realized that many of those students were asking questions I’ve asked God more times than I can count:
“What’s next?”
“Am I making the right decision?”
“What if I get this wrong?”

The funny thing is that God rarely answers those questions by handing us a detailed plan. Instead, He offers His presence.

Throughout Scripture, God’s promise was rarely, “I’ll show you everything.”
It was, “I’ll be with you.”

Maybe that’s the lesson both the students and I needed to remember.
The future doesn’t become less uncertain because we know all the answers.
It becomes less frightening because we know we’re not walking into it alone.

And sometimes that’s all the wisdom we need – whether we’re 22, 52, or somewhere in between.

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What’s the best piece of life advice you’ve ever received?
Share it in the comments below.

And if this reflection encouraged you, consider sharing it with someone who may be standing in their own “season of questions.”

Because sometimes the wisdom we need arrives through an unexpected conversation, an ordinary moment, or even a ride across town.

The Uber Chronicles: Humanity, Humor, and Unexpected God Moments from the Driver’s Seat.