Parable Road 6 (Grace)

I grip the steering wheel as I guide the truck through a series of curves.

The yellow light of dawn playing across the fields of green.

It is a beautiful morning to be alive.

I hear the sound of rustling behind me. A black-haired head pokes through the dark curtain separating the cab area of the truck from the bunk area behind it.

“How’s it going, Ben?”

“Pretty good so far. How was your sleep?”

“Good enough. I’m ready to take my shift.”

The man moves to seat himself in the passenger seat beside me.

“Ok. Tell you what, I’ve got room for fifteen minutes of driving in my log book. I’ll use it up and then we can switch.”

“Sounds good.”

My driving partner, Harvey, shifts in his seat as our big rig rumbles on down the highway.

In the rearview mirror, I can see that a police car is trailing me. Huh. I wonder what they’re up to?

“So, Harvey, what’s your story?”

“My story? Huh. There’s not much to tell. I immigrated to Canada from Mexico a few years ago, I’ve gotta wife…six kids…that’s about it.”

“Oh, what got you into trucking?”

“When ya got a family, ya gotta make money. Trucking is a way to do it.”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right. What brought you to Canada?”

“Oh um…” Harvey pauses and looks uncomfortable.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“No. No. It’s alright. Um.” Harvey fidgets in his seat. “It’s just kinda a family secret I guess…”

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Harvey sighs. “No…no…We’re gonna spend a lotta time together. I might as well say it. Um. We were part of this Church down there…but I started askin the preacher some questions, so we all got kicked out.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah, they call it shunning. It’s pretty tough ta live when nobody ya know wants ta talk to ya.”

“I can imagine.”

Flashing red and blue lights appear in my review mirror. Now what? I really can’t afford a fine right now. Still, I have to do what I have to do, so I start shifting down and guiding the truck to the side of the road.

“They talked a lot about tha Bible, an all that stuff, but as soon as the pastor gave the word, they dumped us pretty quick.” Harvey shrugs. “I just got fed up and decided to move away from all that.”

“Well, you know that God loves you, don’t you?”

Harvey laughs. “That’s hard ta believe.”

“It’s true you know.”

“Yeah, well, I was in that Church every single day… workin’ my butt off. But, whatever I did was never enough for God’s people, so why would it have been good enough for God Himself?”

“You know Harvey, any relationship where you have to work for love isn’t a healthy relationship.”

“That wasn’t a healthy one, that’s for sure.” Harvey’s laugh is tinged with bitterness. “All that work I did for all those years and they dumped me the minute I started askin’ questions. They only cared about what I could do for them, they didn’t give a hoot about me or my family.”

“Harvey, it’s not about all that, it’s about grace…”

“Grace? Yeah, they talked about that too. I never saw anybody doin’ it though.”

The truck shudders to a stop as I apply the brakes.

I see a police officer approaching in the rearview mirror.

He looks serious. Dead serious.

I know I wasn’t speeding. What did I do wrong?

I push open the door. “What’s wrong officer?”

An official-looking face stares up at me. “Do you realize that this is a restricted road?”

“No officer, I…”

“You’re way overloaded to be driving around out here.”

“I’m sorry officer, I won’t do it again.”

“I really should give you a hefty fine.” The officer thinks for a moment. “But, you know what, you’re almost at the truck route. So, if you promise me that you’ll use it, I’ll let you go this time.”

“I sure will.”

“Good.” The officer points toward a green sign in the distance. The truck route is right up there, route seventy-five. Turn right on that and you’ll be okay.”

“Thank you, officer.”

“Don’t thank me, just don’t do it again.”

“I won’t.”

The officer smiles. When he does, he looks like Tom Cruise from Top Gun. “I’m sure you won’t. Have a good rest of your day and welcome to Saskatchewan.” With that, he turns and walks back toward his patrol car.

Harvey and I sit in silence for a moment.

I reach down and loosen my seat belt. “Well, Harvey, you said you’d never seen anybody practice grace…you just did. He didn’t even ask for the logbook or driver’s license.”

“He must’ve been in a good mood.”

“Whatever it was, I’m sure glad he let us off.”

Harvey smiles. “What do you think? You ready to switch now Ben?”

“Yeah, I think I need to get some sleep.” I move the curtain leading toward the bunk aside. “Stay out of trouble.”

“I’ll do my best but I won’t guarantee anything,” Harvey says as he moves into the driver’s seat.

To be continued…