07/20/2025
Story time to help vets! This is the story of Sherman, our big green truck. Before Sherman we had black Betty, and that 2014 ram did some serious work for veterans, but her time is gone. Sherman, however, is very much still a working member of the team, he's just on vacation right now. On December 31st 2019 black Betty was repossessed by the bank and it was one of the first trials we faced that really seemed like a mountain we'd never skale much less move. That's not God's story though, you see the Creator of the universe does so many miracles behind our back you'd think we would see it coming. Sadly usually we do not realize that God has us resting in His hands safe from the arrows of the enemy all while we panic and hide out of lack of faith in His plans for our purpose. A few weeks after we lost the black truck I received a call from a navy veteran in response to a post about the need for a truck to continue what I thought was my "mission" from God. He said he had a truck i needed to look at that would be very useful for the "mission". What I left out is the part about the 02 grand caravan we got from Justin Cogswell and operation build up and how hard it was to get around Houston with all the tools in the donated van from the same Facebook post the navy veteran was referring to. While the van and the adventure of getting the van from Rochester NY in black Betty are such a blessing and life changing events, again they are a story for another time. We purchased Sherman a 1994 turbo diesel 7.3 duelly with 252,000 miles and tons of potential for a ridiculously low price of only $2500. He had little issues here and there but compared to the van I was in heaven and had no idea what being a powerstroke owner meant nor had I ever owned a diesel anything. We set off recharged and "on fire" again in the good times hangover. Funny how when things are good we seem to feel connected to God but in the trials we think the omnipresent King of Kings has pulled an Elvis and left the building. We are Elvis, just so you know, we leave His presence, we hide from Him, we are ashamed of our failures. God is not a grudge holder or a kid with a magnifying glass burning random ants. Shortly after leaving Houston and moving to Cass county we had the fuel pump go out and my buddy Andy Goodrich and his brother Ryan Goodrich helped me change it. Then we had the throw out bearing go out and Dave Eaton helped us with that. When it went out the second time Quintin Durst helped us fix the problem with the pedals causing the throw out bearing to go bad. Another guy, Doug, helped us with the water pump and several other things. We flew out to Washington State to help an army veteran with several remodeling projects over a 2 month period. When we came back home Sherman was not happy with us not taking him with us. Several things happened which lead to just parking him for 2 years. Then Kyle Jackson came by our house and got Sherman fired back up in 15 minutes. He was back on the road! Only now he's bleeding a little bit more oil and running a little funny and I can't get out of what felt like limp mode making it impossible to get to a speed of 55 mph unless it's downhill. Time to park him again and switch over to Kaylas truck "firefly" which was Daves dads truck until further notice. Firefly is a 2005 f150 v6 single cab long bed with 375000 miles. Runs like you'd think, sputtering and burning oil diligently. One of my customers, a chief warrant officer 4, took it upon himself to go to the local Ford dealership and inspire them to help us get Sherman going again. They decided to take Sherman and do whatever they could do, with the no money we had, to get him back to work. Two months later we went to pick up Sherman and he drove way better! Still has a massive oil leak and diesel puddling on top of the motor at the base of the turbo causing smoke in the cab over 60 mph. What gives?! This truck sure seems like more of a pain than he's worth..... Well I assure you that he is priceless. Sherman has traveled to 11 states and taken us safely to the aid of over 750 veterans and over 125,000 miles in a manner that can only be interpreted as a representation of the walk of a Christian who, despite adversity and hardship, continues to get up, change some parts, refuel, charge the batteries and move forward. Just like the walk of a follower of Jesus Christ, God will use people to articulate his miracles individually for each of us. Last Monday my youngest son Shelby and I passed a man, ol Johnny, on 77 outside of Atlanta who's transmission went out on his old ram 1500 and needed a tow. We towed him home to ol Johnny's surprise and prayed over Johnny and his truck and went home as normal. The next day we went to work as usual for the week at a local deputies house to finish up some custom cabinets nothing out of the ordinary. It was when we left the job and went to cefco that we had a small issue. Sherman decided that he didn't want to start. Mind you this has only happened once before where he would not start and it wasn't until I prayed directly and specifically to God to start that he turned over and ran as anticipated. Needless to say we changed our destination that night from a local rodeo we were now late to, to whataburger where I got to understand righteous anger and unrighteous anger by way of an angry lady and some t**d teenagers. She threatened to cause injury to teens because they were in her bubble and they were being obnoxious, (sober) teens. We did not support either behavior and stood up for what was morally right in the moment versus the child-like temper I threw at 2100 in front of the linden courthouse. This time I was not going to let the devil win.... I prayed for people that offered assistance and before long Sherman fired up and we were off! 2 miles later he for the first time stalled out and died. I gave into the fear, worry and doubt and reacted with anger again. I wasn't going to make the money, I wasn't going to pay the bills coming up, how was i going to get the 9,000 lb toolbox on wheels home!!!! Failed again in the trusting completely in Him department. Little did I know that He planned on my desire to be the provider for my family getting in the way of attending the vacation Bible camping trip at our church that was to begin Thursday morning last week. Had my truck not broken down I would have found an excuse as to why I wasn't good enough to teach other people's kids stuff. Little did I know that He, the one who knows where and places oh so gracefully each rain drop, had already behind my back add triple A towing on someone else's insurance in a completely different state that would tow my truck home for free the following Monday. We all have a "mission" from the God of David that we may not understand or adequately deliver on daily and we might seem to fail constantly, however, it is when we realize that the "mission" needs to be a ministry and all of our trials and tribulations have prepared us for the mission of ministry that God calls each of His children to which is our testimony of the miraculous intervention in our lives by the MOST HIGH. Thank you for reading this story and be sure you are helping those that God puts in your path daily as an opportunity to be better than yest**day at following the steps of the Great I Am
†*******UPDATE*******†
SHERMAN IS RUNNING AGAIN!!! Thank you to everyone who stood in faith with thanksgiving for this truck and the ministry he carries. Tomorrow we are going to address the oil leak and the diesel leak!! Remember time is not the same to the Father as is it to us. His time is better!!!!
