By: Craig Maart

It’s 11:00 pm, and one of our chaplains gets a call that a driver from a company he serves has died in an accident. The rig went off the road, and the driver died at the scene of the accident.

For a TFC Global chaplain, this starts a series of steps to take. It sets in motion our chaplaincy care for the family, the company, and help with arrangements for honoring the mortal remains of the driver. There are police departments involved from different states, a coroner’s office, and funeral homes involved. It is the service of the chaplain to provide personal care to the family in the middle of unexpected news and the trauma they are experiencing.

It is during times like these when family members and the people who worked with the driver think about their lives and their mortality. This is why TFC Global chaplains are in place. We are present, proactive with our chaplaincy care, and stand ready for when our service is requested. We enter the chaos and provide a calming presence needed.

Chaplain care after a phone call like this takes hours over several days. We care for the family and employees at the company where the driver or employee worked. This is far from a one-off conversation and requires our chaplains to be led by the Holy Spirit to know how to best provide care.

This is a taste of what a TFC Global chaplain is prepared to handle each day. Please pray for our chaplains and lift them up to God. Chaplains also need your support. Your financial giving makes sure we are in place for the trucking community when it is needed. We can’t do it without the support of people like you.

To find out more about our chaplaincy services, go to TFCGlobal.org or contact Craig Maart at craigm@tfcglobal.org. We are there for the trucking community even when they don’t know they need what we have to offer.

By: Craig Maart

I recently visited a guy in prison whose father died unexpectedly two months after he was sentenced.  This was devastating. He was not able to go to the funeral but was only given a badly recorded video to watch weeks after the service. When I asked him about how he is processing his father’s death, he said  “It doesn’t even seem real”. He told me he would start dialing his father’s number, then stop because he remembered his dad is no longer there.  

Recently a chaplain ministered to a driver who was involved in a bad incident that was not his fault.  After the incident, this driver was required to take some time off. He rented a car to drive across the country, alone, to get back to his family. Imagine being involved in an incident where there is a loss of life and then spending a few days driving all by yourself. Our chaplain was able to stay in contact with this driver in the few days it took to drive home. The driver was so appreciative someone cared enough to keep calling and listening as he kept processing the mental images of the incident and praying with him.  

The worst thing that can happen to a person who has experienced trauma, no matter who’s at fault,  is to be alone. Isolation is terrible. Being connected to your family, friends, and a caring community of people is essential. Our chaplain made sure this was happening to the driver.  

It is situations like this that prove the benefits of having a chaplain in place. A TFC Global chaplain is there when you need one. No driver or employee in the trucking community should ever have the horrible feeling they can’t see or call someone who will be there with them.  

To find out more about our chaplaincy services, go to www.tfcglobal.org or contact Craig Maart at craigm@tfcglobal.org. We want to be there when you and your people need it. 

By: Craig Maart

The life of a TFC Global Chaplain is an adventure. There are often divine appointments sent from God to our chaplains. Therefore, our chaplains must be ready for everything on any given day. They must be in tune with the Holy Spirit to recognize God’s leading in a “still small voice” or in the chaos of a crisis. The work of a chaplain is never done, and the spiritual responsibility to God and the people we interact with is a big deal. People’s lives are important, and eternity hangs in the balance based on a decision to accept or reject Jesus as their Savior.

I want to share two stories from our chaplains that show these divine appointments and the impact TFC Global chaplains are making.

A driver stopped to talk to one of our chaplains. This driver shared how the extended time on the road and away from home had chipped away at his marriage. It was a mess. Instead of cutting the guy off and offering to pray for him and send him on his way, our chaplain kept listening. TFC Global chaplains are trained in counseling principles. Key statements to make as an active listener are, “Tell me more” or “Help me understand”. These statements allowed this driver to open up and share why things were so bad in his marriage. It ended up that the driver was unfaithful to his wife while out on the road, tried to hide it, and things got out of control. The good news is the driver lived close enough to our chaplain, so he was able to continue counseling this man and include his wife. Our chaplain got the couple together, talked with the wife separately, and then got them back together again. This is excellent follow-up and care, which is a key ingredient in our chaplaincy “secret sauce”. All in all, our chaplain spent more than eight hours with this couple over the course of days. The results for this couple are still pending, but hard work was done. There is a personal connection to our chaplain for more help as needed. So good.

The other story comes from the impact one of our chaplains is making in the two trucking companies he serves. We customize in-person services to what a company desires in addition to on-call services. In some companies, the on-site presence of a TFC Global Chaplain is less than once a week. Well, this is obviously not enough. This chaplain told me employees from both companies have been asking to see him more often. “This once a week or less is not cutting it. It is not enough”. This is a good thing, as it shows the effectiveness of our chaplain and the desire people have for chaplaincy services. Now I am talking to the owners of these two companies to see about getting this chaplain on site and available to employees more often. This is good stuff.

I hope these stories help you see the real situations and people our chaplains interact with every day. The world is getting darker, and evil doesn’t even try to hide anymore. That is why we need to be the light of God that shines in the darkness. TFC Global chaplains rely on God, pray in advance of these divine appointments, get trained, and work hard to be as prepared as possible for all that is in a day’s work.

Thank you for giving to support TFC Global. Because of you, we can share these stories in a beautiful full-color glossy magazine like this. Because of you, stories will keep coming to show the transformational work of God in the trucking community.

By: Craig Maart

For a chaplain, every day is a new day to anticipate some kind of “divine appointment” will take place. You never know when or how someone will approach you. The activity logs TFC Global chaplains turn each month tell stories of interactions and conversations with real people in the trucking industry.

I assume you have seen the photos and short articles in this magazine about the desire and need to send Bibles to Africa. The truth is, we can’t send Bibles fast enough to meet the demand and allow our chaplains over there to put them into the hands of drivers. This is amazing. However, in the past few years, it seems the opposite has been happening here in the United States. “Business” has been a little slow in that area. Hearts have not seemed to be receptive.

But, lately, that part of the story has changed. Over the last few weeks, I have heard from chaplains that drivers have been asking for Bibles.

What is interesting to me is the chaplains who have told me about their interactions describe it as drivers being timid, shy, and hesitant to ask. One factor we notice in this hesitancy is, “they don’t want to be seen reading a Bible”. Things don’t really change from elementary school into adulthood when it comes to peer pressure and not wanting to be pushed away from the “cool kids table”. No one wants to be rejected and we know spiritual warfare is real when adults in the trucking industry are hesitant to be seen with a Bible in their hands.

No matter their demeanor or reasoning, thanks to your support we have nice TFC Global branded Bibles to give them. This makes sure they know how to contact us with any questions or how to reach a chaplain. We don’t want to hand them a Bible and send them on their way without knowing how to reach us for more help.

It’s always darkest before the dawn and the world doesn’t seem like it can get any darker. Evil doesn’t even try to hide and flaunt itself around in the open disgracing the image of God.

That’s why this is a big deal. Drivers are asking for Bibles! The need is there, and we are in place to provide not only a Bible but also a face-to-face conversation about the main character in the Bible. God has always wanted “special people” to be in a “special place”. Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden. After the fall God raised up Abraham and the Jews to be His chosen people in the land of Israel. That physical land is set aside by God for the Jews. Now God is “preparing a place” for everyone who admits their sin against God, repents of their sin, believes when Jesus shed His blood and died on the cross, it was for them, and then asks God for forgiveness and salvation.

This story never gets old, and this message has to get out. That’s why we see the light of God shining down in 2024. There is a resurgence in realizing what the world has to offer leaves you empty and worse off. Therefore, we are seeing an increase in people seeking God and the Bible for answers. People a not looking for a God who gets us but are looking to get God. Only God can provide the basic needs every human being has: acceptance, security, and significance.

So, when a driver or anyone we serve in the trucking industry asks, “May I have a Bible?” The answer will always be, “YES, YOU CAN!”