Life on the road not only brings a trucker to see the Christless subculture of the truck stop but also gives him opportunities to share the gospel.

Many of us modern-day Christians are not really confronted by evil or are even prepared for it should it present itself. We pray that our faith holds out, hope that it does not get tested, and then live complacently in the 21st century.

My life is a bit different. My name is Jim, and I drive a rig for an expedited trucking company from Michigan to Mexican border towns in Texas and back to Michigan.

RECOGNIZING DANGERS ON THE ROAD

Working the nation's highways for a living allows me to see the raw and unrefined nature of the human existence. I see a world lost and confused, with a desperate need for Christ and salvation. Along the border near Mexico and at many truck stops, there is rampant prostitution, drugs, and criminal activity. It is everywhere, and you can't escape being close to it. Out on the road, away from family and friends, one encounters a world not unlike movies about the end of the world. Underneath the surface of civilized society lies a subculture with a proclivity to evil, where godless ways look to gain strength from the gods of this world. It is very different from the tame framework of home life. And it brings to life the warnings of Scripture in a way I might never know otherwise.

At the end of a long day after about 750 miles on the road, truckers find rest at havens along the highways to eat, shower, do paperwork, and sleep. When the sun goes down over the truck stop with as many as a hundred rigs parked for the night, subtle changes in the dark landscape take place. Young ladies go door to door, truck to truck, knocking gently on them to offer services in the oldest profession for money. They are known as lot lizards in trucker's jargon. I see them quickly entering and leaving rigs down the line of parked trucks and back again while looking out for police cruisers.

I have spoken with a number of them and discovered that most are not the decaying wretches one may imagine in such a circumstance. Most are single parents with several young children, unemployed, unemployable for various reasons. Some have drug habits, and others face mounting debt. So they turn to a viable—albeit illegal and immoral—economic solution. Most are even pleasant to talk to. But I always see the horrible sadness in their eyes. The eyes betray their flippant and sultry demeanors. It's always in the eyes. They know what they do is wrong underneath it all.