Thursday, September 13, 2007 - An Unsung Profession

     I’d like to talk about an unsung profession.  I am married to a truck driver and I’d like to tell you a little about his normal day.  I wake my husband everyday at 4:30 a.m. to go to work.  He gets up, dresses, makes his coffee, packs a lunch, and is out the door usually by 4:45.  My husband began his career in 1977 when he was 17 years old and joined the Army to be a truck driver.  Over the years he has hauled just about everything and pulled just about every type of trailer.  He has hauled military vehicles for the Army, steel on flat bed to build structures and cars, food and household goods in dry vans, railroad containers and refrigerated trailers to help the homemakers, and he now hauls cryogenic tankers with liquid oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, or argon so that our hospitals and factories can provide necessary services.  In his own words he has driven more miles backwards than most of us have driven forward.  He has been in every state and has made deliveries in some of the biggest cities and the tiniest of towns.  He has seen all kinds of things in his travels. He is the Good Samaritan who has helped countless stranded motorists change a tire, get assistance after an accident or simply provide good directions to the lost traveler.  In a normal day he will drive about 400 miles and be gone from home anywhere from 14 hours to an overnight stay somewhere.  Despite the long hours and the industry frustrations, he loves what he does.

            I’d like to share a few things I have learned in regards to what it is like for them out there.

1. They are doing a necessary job.  Without them we would not be able to go to our local store to get that loaf of bread or gallon of milk.  Our vehicles’ tanks would remain empty and homes would not be built or repaired.
2. The road is their office and the truck is their briefcase.
3. Trucks are big.  That’s way they are called “Big Rigs”.  This may go without saying but it’s amazing how little space cars will give them and expect the truck to maneuver.
4. Trucks cannot start or stop the way a car can.  Try pulling an empty wagon and work your way around the house.  Then put all your kids in it. Same concept.  They need space.  If something darts into the path of one of these things, it isn’t pretty.
5. Truck drivers are not going to get rich doing what they do; most are paid by the mile or the load.  They do it because they love it.
6. They tend to be jacks-of-all trades.  They are mechanics, delivery people, tour guides, bookkeepers (you should see the paperwork), and roadside missionaries.
7. Truck drivers are watched and monitored very closely and have to keep track of everything they do.  How many people working from their vehicles keep a log of the hours they drive and work and are scrutinized?
8. A large majority of the drivers I have met are God loving family people just trying to make a living like everyone else.

I’m not saying that all truck drivers are these wonderfully sweet people.  There are not so nice people in every profession.  I’m just asking that the next time you are frustrated because you are behind a slow moving tractor trailer or you think that you’ve been cut off by a driver trying to turn a corner, try to have some compassion and say a prayer for his safe return home.  He just may be the husband who has a family waiting for his return.

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Wednesday, August 29, 2007 - On Resting

Posted in Just a Thought

As we were heading for ice-skating yesterday, my son remarked that I was different this week.  He commented on how I seemed more patient and wasn’t speaking as loudly as I had before. He said that I was happier and not mad at everything.  I was humbled by his observations and a little disturbed by the fact that that was how I was presenting myself to my children. For the most part, I view myself as a happy-go-lucky personality with a fair amount of patience.  What a rude awakening his comments were.  I think the change is due to having a time of relaxation and renewal of the mind, body, and spirit.  As I thought about his words, I realized that my husband seemed more calm and less stressed about things also.  It dawned on me that we were doing our children a great disservice by not taking regular time to rejuvenate ourselves.  We get so absorbed in schooling, work and responsibilities that we have forgotten to give it a rest.  In Genesis 2:2-3, God rested from His work.  What makes us think that we can keep on doing so much without resting?  God made it perfectly clear that we are to rest on the seventh day. (Exodus 20:9-11; 31:13-17; 34:21; 35:2, Leviticus 23:3)  Our ‘free-times’ are filled with catching up on things left undone.  How often do we actually sit and do nothing?  I don’t know about you but the nothing times are so rare that I wouldn’t recognize them. The 24-7 factor has to be removed.  We need to re-energize ourselves by taking some do nothing days.  I seriously don’t think that the world will stop revolving if we enter into rest once a week.  Do we ever really ‘catch-up’ on things left undone during the week?  If we don’t make time to rest, as my son so kindly made me aware, we become people we aren’t even aware that we have become. 

 

Psalm 62:1-2 (NIV)

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

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Monday, July 16, 2007 - Memory Pack Rat

Posted in Just a Thought

I am a memory pack rat.  I have saved and stored away cards, letters, ticket stubs, church bulletins, programs, newspaper articles and various trinkets from my life. After I got married, I began to save mementos for my husband and children. I used to keep them in my cedar chest but the volume of over 40 years and 4 other people has long out grown the chest. I have graduated to a plastic tub for each member of the family.  The cedar chest now holds some of my most prized treasures; the Christening gown my parents used for all four of their children, my wedding dress that was actually an 80’s prom dress that I bought on clearance for $20, my oldest son’s dedication suit, the outfit I brought both my sons home from the hospital in and the one my daughter wore.  There also is a light orange crochet bunting and matching booties that my daughter’s namesake made for my oldest son.  This wonderful friend never got to see my other children because she died from a brain aneurysm the week before my oldest turned a year old.  There is a tattered quilt made by my Memèré, and a baby blanket given to my mother for me when I was born.  Among the paper items are stories, poems, and artwork I had created in my younger days. I still have report cards from elementary school. There are dairies and journals chronicling my everyday life and emotions from long forgotten times.  Whenever I touch a card or letter from someone who is no longer part of my life, I am taken back and the sweet memories remind me of the many blessings I have had.  My children have followed in my ‘memory pack rat’ ways, filling their tubs with the things that will remind them of their own blessings.  From time to time we look over these items and the many more stored for safekeeping and our hearts are filled.  Their stories are told and we reflect on how good God is.

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Thursday, June 7, 2007 - T.V. Talent Shows

Posted in Just a Thought

I’ve always been a fan of talent shows.  I enjoy the variety and being exposed to talents that would otherwise go unseen.  However I have some mixed feelings about what television has been producing as of late when it comes to the various “talent show” venues.  It seems to me that they take great pleasure in embarrassing, ridiculing and belittling people.  Even though they eventually weed out those who lack the expected giftedness, I am having a hard time understanding the need to parade them in front of millions of viewers.  I don’t understand the point of breaking down and humiliating someone, perhaps even killing their spirits, week after week.  I’m sure that some of those people are aware this is a chance they take, but I don’t see the benefit of cruel and blunt criticism.  Why do they put people they know they are going to reject on their shows in the first place? Ratings? I shudder to think that millions of viewers tune in just for the bashings.  What does this say about the viewing public?  I know I’m naïve, but I would rather see talent nurtured and developed so that it can be used for God’s glory instead of the malicious pleasure some take in beating someone down.  That’s not to say that those that lack obvious talent should be coddled, I just think there are better ways to handle those situations than the way television is doing publicly.  We may be losing out on seeing some truly gifted people perform for their fear that they won’t measure up.  I understand that it is a competition, but I think it would serve the public better to put talents of the same caliber together instead of what is being presented to us now.  I think God’s kingdom can be better served if words of compassion are spoken more often than the bitterness of scorn.

 

1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Colossians 4:5-6  Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.  Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

 

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