By Phil Hudgins
Leaving home wasn’t easy for Chad Gray. He was born in San Diego, Calif., had gone away to college, then returned to his hometown, where he lived for the next 25 years. He loved his church, where he was worship pastor. There was no reason to leave.
But after his father died earlier this year, Chad and his wife, Melanie, along with their 12-year-old son, Sam, started talking. They agreed they should move closer to his mother, left widowed and living with another son in Georgia.
Chad started checking out job opportunities— preferably with a nonprofit—and the one person he knew in Georgia told him that Eagle Ranch was looking for a development officer. Eagle Ranch is a Christian residential school in Flowery Branch, Georgia, a program parents turn to when they struggle with their troubled children.
After three interviews, Chad got the job. He was to report to Eagle Ranch in late July, driving alone about 2,200 miles in a 1993 Chevy Silverado a member of his church had given him. His wife and son were to join him later, after he found a suitable home.
Assured by a mechanic that the truck was safe enough for the trip, Chad headed out, the camper shell on the back packed snugly with his clothes, his guitars and amplifiers and everything else he would need.
Before he left, he prayed: “Lord, I’m going to be in this truck the next three or four days…, and I’d love for you to show me something about yourself.”
The Silverado made it to Cisco, Texas, where the transmission began acting up, forcing Chad to limp off the freeway and into a small gas station.
“Lord, I prayed for you to show me something, so here we are.”
Chad learned that a mechanic’s shop was about a mile away. He made it there okay and met Chris Carroll and his wife, Melissa Page, who own and operate Chris Automotive and Repair in the town of 4,029 people.
Finally, Chad got the bad news: The transmission was burned out.
We can get another transmission sometime next week, Chris said. This was a Thursday. Chad was due at work the following Monday.
Chad didn’t know what to do. But Chris did. After talking privately with his wife for several minutes, Chris made their offer. They would swap, straight up, a 2004 Chevy Trailblazer automobile that has a working transmission for a 1993 Chevy Silverado truck that doesn’t.
“We felt it in our hearts to do something,” Chris said by phone, “and we were able to do it. He needed it more than we needed to sell it.”
Everything packed into the Silverado fit perfectly inside the Trailblazer, and Chad made it to his destination.
The Trailblazer—nicknamed Lake Rat after a bumper sticker it proudly displays— lasted two months and then broke down. Chad is considering getting it repaired and keeping it or giving it away.
Whatever he decides, he said, “I’m certain God will continue to supply all my needs.”
