I’d like to offer you an invitation.
I am beginning a new blog series titled, “Life is Like a Truck.”
Most likely you just said to yourself, “No it isn’t.” Well, if you’ve never considered how it might be or could be, I’m inviting you to follow this blog.
In my former life, I spent twenty-one years as an over-the-road driver delivering remanufactured automobile parts to the eastern United States and recently finished another four years of hauling grain for a farmer friend of mine.
What is to follow will be my real-life gleanings and observations of God’s goodness and willingness to reveal Himself through the simple things.
I was privileged to witness the evidence of God’s amazing creation through the windshield of my truck thousands of times. Every sunrise and every sunset delivered a new revelation of God’s creativity and glory. No two were alike. I was dazzled by starry nights and meteors that sometimes spanned the entirety of my vision.
I was especially fond of winter nights when the earth was snow-covered. Occasionally, the brilliance of a full moon would illuminate the night sky, and with the reflection off the snow, headlights weren’t even needed – um, but still highly advised. Please don’t ask me anything about how I know this, ok?
Then there were the occasional snow storms that could literally shut down the highways. I personally experienced two nights spent sleeping in my truck in the middle of the highway simply because no one could continue on in the intensity of the storm. We would be awakened by State Troopers banging on the door early in the morning, “Let’s go driver, time to roll!”
And there were storms so intensely ferocious that it was frightening, especially to find out later that the tornado that was spawned by the sea green clouds touched down a mere mile away.
One of God’s characteristics that I am especially fond of is how He reveals Himself in the ordinary. He is always teaching, if we are available, watching and listening. As the ancient saying goes, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” I learned that Jesus was always ready to teach and He did it in the simplest of ways. Ways that were clear and understandable to me, His willing student.
I would like to get some of these thoughts and teachings on paper and thought it might be fun to share them with you. Most people have some sort of love/hate relationship with large trucks. We are appreciative that they are delivering the things we need to make life work; but we really hate to drive behind them and will do practically anything to get around them.
Guys tend to be especially fascinated by these large pieces of equipment; and even though they may never want the job of driving one, they are curious to see inside them and perhaps take a ride, if available. I can’t take you all on an actual truck ride but I can share some insights I learned in my time on the road.
My goal in the upcoming blogs is ultimately to take us deeper in our knowledge and understanding of what a daily relationship with the King of the universe can look like. How winsome the Holy Spirit of God really is – delighting in revealing Himself in simple truths and illustrations through our daily work. I simply use truck driving as my personal context but I assure you that God desires to reveal His goodness to you as well in the daily context of your personal life and work.
Finally, I have nothing but admiration for the hard-working men and women in this industry. While their trucks are highly visible and always in our way, few really know what the life of the driver is like. In my day truckers were the “highway heroes” who could be counted on to offer assistance to any stranded motorist no matter the time of day or night.
The industry has changed in many ways in the years since I started driving. These days technology has brought about significant shifts in every section of the industry from equipment to driver accountability and oversight.
As many of us sleep soundly in our beds every night, drivers are hard at work in the darkness keeping the wheels turning. They are solo and in teams. They are men, they are women. They are every color and from every culture. They are professionals who must tirelessly deal with endless obstacles: weather, mechanical breakdowns, challenging delivery schedules, traffic jams and careless drivers all around them.
It’s definitely not a job for everyone - but for most of these dedicated men and women, nothing else will do.
This series is to honor the Spirit of the Lord and the life of the “concrete cowboy.”
I hope you’ll follow along and join the journey.
— Tom
Acknowledgements:
Thank you Rick, my farmer friend, for the generous use of your truck, for your friendship and for allowing me the privilege of driving for you for those four years. I learned a lot and it was never boring. Rick’s truck will be starring in many of the truck photos coming in the blog.
Cardone Industries – this is where it all began. In a forty-minute job interview, I was never asked if I knew how to drive a truck! What a blessing to drive for a company who put that kind of value in a man’s heart over his skills. Skills can be taught. Although I had attended a driving school, two senior drivers at Cardone’s really taught me how to drive and drive well. I am forever grateful.
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