The sun isn’t up yet when Eddie starts the engine.
The parking lot is quiet. The road ahead is long. Somewhere down the highway, there are people who need what he’s carrying, but they do not know he’s coming.
Eddie has done this for years: Hurricanes. Floods. Fires. Every North American Serve Tour. The needs change. The road doesn’t.
But neither does Eddie. He’s steadfast. And this story isn’t really about the truck.
It’s 5 a.m. at the hotel. The kind of hour when everything feels a little slower, a little quieter. Eddie is checking out, heading back on the road.
He starts talking with the woman working at the front desk. Nothing unusual. Just a conversation. And then, somewhere in the middle of it, he tells her about Jesus.
By the time he leaves, her life has changed.
That’s the part you don’t see when a truck pulls into a disaster zone. The conversations in between. The quiet moments. The way compassion shows up long before and long after the work is done.
Eddie doesn’t separate those things.
He has been driving trucks most of his life. He grew up on a farm, learning early how to handle a wheel and stay steady. Life brought hardship, loss, and seasons that could have taken him in a different direction.
But years ago, everything shifted. Eddie chose to follow Jesus. And ever since, he has kept saying yes.
Yes to serving in his community.
Yes to going where the need is.
Yes to using what he has been given.
Today, that looks like driving a semi for Send Relief. Delivering supplies to people in crisis. Showing up when something has gone wrong.
But even that is not the whole story. For Eddie, the mission was never just the destination.
It is the person standing in front of him.
It is the conversation no one planned for.
It is the opportunity to share what the Lord has done in his life.
Because compassion opens the door for the gospel.
Even when that door is a hotel lobby at 5 a.m.
Even when it is a parking lot, a job site, or the side of the road.
Even when the work feels ordinary.
At one point, Eddie received a diagnosis that could have changed everything. Stage four cancer. He did not pray first for healing. He prayed that he could keep serving.
And he did.
Today, he is still on the road. Still delivering what is needed. Still stopping long enough to see every person in front of him. Still saying yes.
April is Global Volunteer Month. It is a time to recognize the thousands of people who show up, often quietly, to meet needs and serve others.
Last year at Send Relief:
- 60,154 volunteers showed up
- 2,505,924 people were served
- 816,327 gospel conversations happened
- 1,464 new doors opened for the gospel
Eddie is just one of those. One life. One road. One conversation at a time.
One yes at a time.
Send Relief, a collaborative ministry between the International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board, is Southern Baptists’ global compassion ministry. For more information visit SendRelief.org/start
