A word of introduction and a word of testimony

I am fifty years old, married, with four kids still at home (two have left the nest). God has had me working in the job of truck driver for two and half years. My wife and I, along with several of our children, currently attend an Assembly of God church in Pearland, Texas, where we live. Pearland is a suburb just south of Houston. My wife is a marvelous Christian woman whose love for the Lord and for others is evident. My children are "works in progress". That should be sufficient introduction.

I wanted to write about the current state of the evangelical church, or about theology, but two days have passed and the words have not yet come, so I will instead write about an event of this past week which would fall in the category of testimony.

I drive over the road. I usually leave my home port of Houston on a Monday or Tuesday and then return on a Saturday about 11 or 12 days later to enjoy three days at home. An exciting aspect of my job is that I never know where my company will send me. This past week, due to several load cancellations, I found myself at my home port of Houston far too early, on Monday. This, in turn, means that I was condemned to get short loads because my time at home was due to start at the end of the week. Shorter loads mean shorter pay, but then God is sovereign and he is thoroughly in charge. My next load out and back was to Northeast Texas. There I wound up at the customer in time to meet a dear friend of mine who also drives for a living. We had a chance to chat. It is good to have a believing friend so that you can encourage one another.

Wednesday morning it was back in Houston to get loaded, and then head with a load to west Texas. I certainly did not know it but a God had one of His "divine appointments" scheduled and I was right on time. Wednesday night I was at the customer's gate in Sonora, Texas, west of San Antonio. I arrived early, about 7:00 pm, parked on the shoulder outside the customer's gate, and settled down to make supper before doing some reading and retiring to the bunk in the sleeper berth.

The next morning was delivery time, but not until the unloader arrived, unlocked the gate, and directed us inside. I say "us" because during the night one of our competitors had arrived and parked behind me, and then as unload time approached two more trucks approached, followed by a third as soon as we were inside the gate.

One of the truckers who just arrived was in a high state of agitation, and no small wonder, for his company had given him bad directions to this remote customer and he had spent part of the night on a wild goose chase. Another was concerned that one of the other drivers would jump ahead of him in line and get unloaded first. I sensed that this was time to step up and attempt to sooth things. I spoke with the unloader, determined what the unload order would be, and went back and spoke with the other drivers.

The unloader was able to unload three trucks at a time. I was not one of the three, so I was waiting with the driver who had been parked behind me. When he saw that I was not concerned about when we would get unloaded, he said: "You have a different spirit about you from these other drivers". I nodded, and went back to my truck.

My turn came. It was a challenging unload because I was in the outside spot, but God was with me and I was able to unload my tanker without incident. The first three drivers were gone, and now it was just me, the unloader, and the driver who had commented on the different spirit I had that morning.

I should mention that both the unloader and the driver were fluent in Spanish, and I had exactly two spanish language tracts left in the truck. After I had packed up my gear and remounted my hoses on the truck, I grabbed the two tracts and went up to this driver and the unloader who were standing together. I gave one tract to the unloader - who studied it, looked up, smiled and told me that he had been given this same tract years earlier. I muttered something about it being time to read it again. I then handed the second tract to the driver, and said: "You said I had a different spirit about me, well you can have this different Spirit as well."

That was it. I was then off. Pray for Rudy (the unloader) and Castro (the driver). The enemy likes to snatch seed right off the path (parable of the sower).

Oh, and what was helping me to stay patient? It probably did not hurt that I had an hour in the truck once I woke up and before the unloader arrived to read and study the scriptures and particularly a very good book which my wife got for me at Christmas. I find it absolutely essential to read and study before I get underway to get my head on straight.

Later ...