Keep on Truckin'

 Thursday was one of those days. By evening I was wilting. Travelling a four-lane highway, I craved a shower and solitude—some unwinding time when I didn’t have to do or say anything. But I had to hang on a little longer before that was possible.

                Then, there he was right beside me when I pulled up at the red light—a sixteen-wheeler with a sky blue cab.

The color alone grabbed my attention, but there was more. Dark blue lettering on the engine surprised me:  Psalm 37:4. A scripture reference on a semi? Interesting.  I liked it, especially since Psalm 37 is one of my favorites. Hmm…verse four? What did it say? I promised myself I’d look it up later after that shower.  

While the light enjoyed being red, the blue truck continued to intrigue me. Can you guess the name of the trucking company? Wise Trucking. And if that wasn’t enough, the crowning inscription above the cab door was this: “He who wins souls is wise.” Now that was some truck!             

My weariness receded into the background. Psalm 37:4, Wise Trucking, He who wins souls is wise. I suspect somebody in that truck knew the same Jesus I know and had a heart for souls. That made me smile. I wanted to honk, wave, thumbs up the driver, but he was a little ahead of me. Then the long red light changed to green. He drove on, and I turned.

Later I looked up Psalm 37:4: “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (NIV) Ah, yes. A wonderful verse. Then I dove into the whole psalm and remembered why I like it so much. Trust, delight, commit, refrain, and do not fret. But most of all delighting in who Jesus is. That was more refreshing than the shower or the solitude, because he is refreshment himself.

That sky blue semi keeps playing around in my thoughts. A blue truck with some writing on it. So what? It was a BIG so-what to me. It was like a Coke Icy when it’s 95 degrees or someone scraping your windshield off when it’s ten below and you have a terrible cold. It’s like a hug when you feel like you did everything you could and still failed. Or it’s the note in your mailbox when you feel forgotten. It was Jesus the King meeting me on a highway, reminding me that he knew what I needed just then. And he had plans to meet with me even later when I looked up that verse. He repeats what he wants me to know deeply—that delight in him is what gives me all the desires of my heart because he is the longing of my heart.

Jesus also sent that truck to preempt an Elijah complex. There are others out there who love Jesus and have hearts for him. None of us are alone in our journey; we have brothers and sisters in the faith. We never know when we’ll round a corner or stop at a light and find one. That encourages me.

The last thing that I can’t get out of my mind about that sky blue truck is that that driver has no idea how his truck encouraged me and how that encouragement is rolling out to others even through this blog. Are you like me? Do you ever think that maybe you’re your days, your weeks, years—your life—doesn’t make much of an impact? Wrong! We simply can’t see it. We drive on and don’t know that someone else took the next step or got a second wind and could go on because of something we said of did.

That truck made a difference to me, and our lives make a difference to others as well. That’s often how Jesus shows up in our lives is not only through his Word but through the word we proclaim and the deeds we do that speak of him as well.

So, my thanks to the driver of the sky blue semi.  And to him and all who follow Jesus: Keep on truckin’!