Palm Sunday: Roger and Butch's Wild Ride

 

Watch and pray,

that ye enter not into temptation:

the spirit indeed is willing,

but the flesh is weak.

                                                                                    -- Matthew 26:41

 

Everybody loves Palm Sunday because Jesus got the glory He deserved. The waving palm fronds, the cheering crowds, the clothes laid down in His path as he rode that young donkey . . . who wouldn't like rock-star treatment like that?

 

But that's the flesh talkin'.

 

What really makes Palm Sunday amazing to me is the strength of spirit that Jesus displayed that day and throughout Holy Week. He knew that same crowd was going to turn murderously ugly on Him in just a few days. He knew what He was in for: betrayal, beatings, a brutal death on the Cross.

 

What must it have been like, riding through those fickle crowds and going through with what the Father designed for Him, instead of turning tail and running? I mean, who could've  blamed Him?

 

So around this time of year, I love to hear stories about people with strong spirits - who face giant obstacles and don't let rough patches get them down for long. They remind me of Our Lord! Especially in these stressful economic and political times, we could all use a few stories like that, eh?

 

So meet Roger and Butch, two older gents from southern Minnesota, with a story out of the early 1960s. They both went into the trucking business while still teenagers, and Roger married Butch's sister, so that made them especially close.

 

At age 25, though, Butch was trying to tighten a chain binder on top of a load of lumber when the hook broke, catapulting him head first off the top. He lost most of his eyesight, a devastating blow to a young trucker. Naturally, he fell into a depression and was going nuts, not working.

 

Not long thereafter, Roger fell asleep at the wheel on a narrow road in Montana, and went through the windshield as his truck plunged into the ditch. He broke both legs and had to wear them in casts for months thereafter. No driving for him, either, for a long while.

 

So they both were in a funk. You know how men are, thinking that their total value in this life is bringing home the bacon. Both wondered: would I ever drive again? Is my life's adventure over? Both men defined themselves as truckers. Trucking wasn't a job, it was their life.

 

Well, late one night, after a stint at the local bar, Butch came over to Roger's and asked if he wanted to go truckin'. He had a 1955 bubblenose Kenworth with a big 220 and two sticks, loaded with lumber for Milwaukee and ready to roll.

 

"A cripple and a blind man?" Roger retorted. "How the ____ do you think we're gonna do that?"

 

But Butch had a plan. Roger, in his twin leg casts, could climb onto the doghouse and steer, while he, the blind guy, would work the double sticks and the throttle at Roger's audible commands.

 

Crazy? You got that right. But they got away with it.

 

They negotiated the two-lane highway, narrow bridges, hills, and the 45-mph speed limit, and arrived in good time. The lumberyard guys looked at each other funny while Roger shouted instructions to Butch unloading the full truck with unconventional methods: "Left!" "Right!" "Up!" "Down!"

 

Dispatch thought the regular driver was on the truck, and sent them off for Chicago to pick up two front-end loaders and then all the way to Los Angeles.

 

By then, Roger was tired of riding on the doghouse. So he got the hacksaw out of the toolbox and started cutting the cast off his right leg. He couldn't get it all . . . so he gave the hacksaw to the BLIND MAN to finish the job!

 

Butch lifted him behind the wheel, and Roger found he could bend his right knee enough to work the throttle and brake by sliding his rear back and forth on the seat. They were able to evade the beam scales because they saw the operator out in back relieving himself, so they zoomed through undetected.

 

But . . . as they pulled into a café in Des Moines, they were greeted by federal, state, county and city police.

 

Roger quips, "When I saw our wives, though, I really knew it was all over."

 

Yeah, they got in a little trouble. But they were so happy to have had their excellent adventure. And everyone who has ever heard the story is happy to hear it, too. Other truckers get to laughing so hard at their sheer audacity that tears run down their faces.

 

Roger got a new cast put on and a talking-to from the doctor . . . and within a few months, was back on the road. He was recently honored by the American Truck Historical Society with the Golden Achievement Award for his 50 years in trucking, traveling more than 7 million miles in 49 states.

 

"Only" 49? Roger still hasn't made it to Hawaii to drive a truck. But that's next: someone he knows has some heavy equipment that has to go by ship to Hawaii. Once to the islands, they will need a trucker to deliver them overland to their final destination. If all goes well, that'll be Roger.

 

Even in his 70s, he's still got that "can do" spirit.

 

You know, those two could've just bagged it, all those years ago. They could have settled for less - used their injuries as an excuse to not try. But they were blessed with the same spirit Jesus had, going through with that wild ride . . . accomplishing His goal during Holy Week, as tough as it must have been.

 

When the spirit is willing, you can do anything. Anything!

 

So this week, stay strong in your spirit, cut your flesh a little slack, and HONK IF YOU LOVE JESUS! Most of all . . . keep on truckin'! †