By: Denny

Friday Sept. 19, 1986: I answered the phone. It was my dispatcher. “Hey, I got a load going to the Los Angeles area. Are you interested in taking it?” I had been sitting at home for a few days waiting for a load, so I said, “You bet.” I was living in Osage, Ia., and the company I drove for was Old Reliable Transportation, 45 miles away in Albert Lea, Mn. I used to run to California a lot with another company, so I jumped at the chance to go back. “Now keep in mind that this is our first load to California, and we don’t have a backhaul set up yet.” He explained, “You may be sitting for awhile waiting for us to find a load.” That was fine with me as some friends of mine had moved out there a year earlier and I’d been wanting to go see them. I called them about my plans, and they were excited to have me stay with them until a load came through.

Saturday Sept. 20:  I picked up my load of store fixtures in Albert Lea at 2 AM and took off for Santa Fe Springs, Ca. I arrived at my destination midday on Monday. After unloading I headed to my friend’s house in Grand Terrace. I ended up spending eleven days with them and enjoyed catching up on things. After five days I called my dispatcher to check in and see if he had any leads on a load. He said not yet, but to call back every day. On the tenth day he said he had found a load. It was a whole load of refurbished Pepsi machines going to Detroit, Mi. There was a catch, they were sitting on pallets in a warehouse in Las Vegas 266 miles away. The load only paid $1600 for 2000 miles, which is .80 per mile and nothing to get excited about. Oh well, sometimes you have haul cheap freight to get home.

Thursday Oct. 2: I said my goodbyes to my friends and left before the afternoon rush hour traffic. I arrived in Las Vegas about 7 PM where I stopped at the Union 76 truck stop to fuel up and get a bite to eat. Afterwards I drove to the warehouse, opened my trailer doors, backed up to the dock, and crawled into the sleeper for the night.

7 AM Friday Oct. 3: It was a bright sunny day, and I was eager to get the show on the road. The dock guys were already in my trailer when I walked in the door. I knew something was amiss because they were measuring the inside length of my trailer. They said they had requested a 53’ trailer and mine was only 48’, therefore I couldn’t take the load because all the machines wouldn’t fit. In all my years of trucking I’ve never delivered or picked up a load in Las Vegas. It is a gambling town and there wasn’t much industry there, so I’d usually blow right through without stopping. So here I am already with 266 miles and wondering how many more empty miles I’d have to drive to get a load, notwithstanding more waiting time. I had given my life to Jesus Christ three years earlier and had experienced His working in mysterious ways on my behalf. Most drivers would’ve blown up in anger, but I just apologized for the miscommunication and pulled away from the dock. I called my dispatcher, and he was furious that nobody told him about needing a 53’ trailer. I told him that God had everything under control and I’d get back to him. I remember sitting there in my truck and telling the Lord that none of this was a surprise to Him, and that He must have something better in mind. I was confident that He didn’t bring me this far to leave me sitting high and dry without a load in the desert. I reached for my Bible, and it fell open to Psalm 23. I began to read it out loud. “The Lord is my Shepard; I shall not want.” I was about to read on when the Holy Spirit stopped me. There is a footnote in the margin that says “want” means “to lack”. He said now read it again like this; “The Lord is my Shepard; I shall not lack a load.” Obviously, God had a plan, so I asked, “What do you want me to do?” He replied, “Go to the truck stop and call the broker.” It wasn’t an audible voice, but rather a voice so clear in my spirit. It’s hard to explain unless you’ve experienced it. While driving to the truck stop, I wondered which broker I was to call.

Now this is where it gets exciting! At the truck stop I opened the yellow pages to Truck Freight Brokers, and there was only one listed. I called him and explained my situation and I needed a load going east.  He laughingly replied, “How does Osage Beach, Mo. sound?” I told him that works for me. He began to fill me in on events that happened two weeks earlier. A huge boat dealer in Las Vegas had a boat storage rack for sale. Assembled it looks like the boxes in the old Hollywood Squares TV game show, and it had cubicles to hold 18 small boats. The owner of a marina in Osage Beach, Mo. had flown out and purchased it. He said he needed to go back and prepare a place to set it up and would call when he wanted it shipped. In the meantime, the dealer in Las Vegas was to disassemble it and have it ready to go. Fast forward – The exact time my load cancelled the guy in Missouri called the dealer to give the go ahead to ship the rack. The dealer then called the freight broker requesting a truck. The broker had barely hung up when I called looking for a load. Coincidence? I don’t think so! I was instructed to be at the boat dealer in the morning, drop my trailer, and they would load it. While they were doing that the broker wanted me to bobtail to his office to sign the trip lease and get the paperwork. When I got there, he told me to get in his car, and he drove to his bank. I waited in the car, and he came out and handed me $800 cash. He said that was half and he would pay the rest when the load was delivered. That’s not the way brokers usually operate and rarely pay anything before a load is delivered, let alone half in cash. I still got a $1600 load but only had to drive 1500 miles. It figured out to be $1.05 per mile. My dispatcher was speechless when I told him that God came through with a load. I delivered the load in Missouri on the following Monday. I wrote 10-3-86 Las Vegas, NV next to Psalm 23 so I would always remember what the Lord did for me that day against all odds in Las Vegas.

To refresh my memory and get the dates right in writing this blog, I dug out the boxes containing all my old logbooks. I found Sept. and Oct. 1986 and in the Oct. 3^rd log was a piece of paper I had simply written John 6:6. I looked up the verse and it’s in reference to when Jesus fed 5,000 with a few fish and loaves of bread. It says, “For He Himself knew what He would do.” I believe God knew what He would do before I even took the load to California. In fact, He had already started to fit all the pieces and timing together. I must wonder how many times we miss what God has planned because we give up, get angry, impatient with His timing, or fail to give Him thanks when our plans fall apart. I believe in miracles, but I’m reluctant to call everything a miracle. However, I do think we would see more instances of God’s supernatural intervention and answer to prayer in our lives if we would do two things: 1) Listen to His voice. 2) Do what He says, even if it seems contrary to our own reasoning. In feeding the 5,000 can you imagine the boy not giving up the fish and loaves to Jesus, or the disciples letting doubt keep them from distributing them to the multitude? They would have missed the miracle. What if Peter would’ve balked when Jesus told him to go cast a hook into the sea and the first fish he caught would have a coin in its mouth, the exact amount needed to pay the temple tax for both of them.  What about when they ran out of wine at the wedding in Cana. Mary told the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” It was when the servants obeyed that the miracle happened. Lazarus had been in the grave four days when Jesus showed up. He could’ve blasted away the stone with one word, but He told those standing there to take it away. When they obeyed they saw the miracle. Because four friends were willing to cut a hole in the roof where Jesus was speaking and lower their crippled friend down, he was healed. There are many more instances where when people partnered with Jesus a miracle happened. Are you willing to partner with Him to see prayers answered and miracles happen? If you know Him, hear His voice, and Just Do What He Tells You, the odds are in your favor.

I have many more instances where God did some awesome things during my long-distance trucking years which I will be sharing in future blogs. Hint: 12-09-1986 Stay tuned!