Wow, what a way to start the StirlingParade, with proud members of theRoyal Canadian Legion leading the rigdedicated to those fallen in Afghanistan.

Drivers if you missed Stirling this year, besure to put it on your calender for next year.They are getting bigger and better every year,and most important, I feel Stirling is the TruckShow in the east that is truely dedicated to thetransport driver.

The awards ceremony speaks volumes as totrucks are the reason we are all there. No get-ting lost in venders, of course we are there, butthe grounds are covered with rigs to fit everyprize category.

In this magazine I will cover the atten-dees of the event or as many as I had time tophotograph and you can visit the Stirling website for show results and pictures of the trucks.There were a lot of important products at thisshow its dedicated people at those booths thatwithout thier support it would be hard to put ona show.

The Lions Club really put thier heartsinto this event to make it worth attending. I my-self have made a note that next year I amgoing to get more pictures of those working inand behind the scenes to make this happen. Idid see the dedication and hard work but didn’tdocument it here for you.

Once again this year Canadian TruckingMagazine and Herd Integrated Vehicle Protec-tion presented the Stirling Truck Show winner agrill guard Front-end Collision Protection worthover $3000.00. Congratulations to MurrayKloosterman from Cambleford Ontario.

Gary Cox last years winner from Ferguswas on hand with an interesting story to tellafter his new HERD was installed.

Seems Gary had a chance first handtwice to see the protection you get with havinga HERD on board. A large buck took on thefront of his truck with such an impact he had toturn on the wipers.Besides having a mess toclean up, you see the front of his truck is per-fect!Happy Trails,,,,,,,,Dave

Dave MacKENZIE

Publisher EditiorCanadian Trucking MagazineDave@Canadiantruckingmagazine.ca

You’ve heard aboutthe south side ofChicago and a guynamed Leroy Brown.Well, on the north sideof St. Louis, Leroy had acounterpart named JoeWillyard. Born in theinner city, Joe was raisedby a step-father whodidn’t work out any bet-ter than the father who’dleft soon after

his birth. No one taught him to playbaseball or took him hunting. Therewas no father image in his young lifeand no guidance – just a hole calledloneliness.

At the tender age of 13 Joe had afull time interest in alcohol, was an alcoholicby age 14 and was mainlining drugs by 17.After a short hitch in the army, he celebrated alonely nineteenth birthday in prison.

Joe came out harder and wilder. He wasmean to the core and carried an attitude.Appropriately, he found employment as anightclub bouncer.

During this period in his life, his girl-

friend’s brother waskilled in a drug deal. Always

the protector, Joe agreed to set upthe killer for the murdered boy’sfather to avenge. When he went

to a bar to finger the triggerman, the word ofhis mission had already gotten around. Whenhe walked out the door, he was the one whogot shot. But that was child’s play compared toan episode a few months later. In the barwhere he worked, a guy gave a waitress a hardtime and Joe called the loudmouth outside tofight. Joe had just taken his fighting stancewhen he noticed the man pull a gun. The shotexploded into his chest, penetrating his rightlung. But before Joe hit the ground, he pulledout his own gun and shot his assailant threetimes, completely blowing away his stomach.Only plea-bargaining kept him out of prisonagain.

Just like in the old westerns, everyonewanted to take on the bad bouncer. So Joedecided to move. In the following years, heexperienced one continual bout of drinkingand drugs, until he found himself panhandlingon the streets of Boston to get enough moneyfor another cheap bottle of white port wine todrink alone.

Joe had been driving a truck on andoff since he got out of prison and hadbeen married three times. Ultimately hefound himself in a detox center tryingto get off booze. He wanted to be freefrom the bottle but was continually setoff by things that drove him back to it.

That’s why on December 26, 1976he awoke one morning in a mentalward in Milan, Illinois. He was closelyguarded because they were afraid thatJoe had become as suicidal as he washomicidal. Joe Willard decided at thatmoment that he’d taken his last drink,and he’s been dry ever since.

But he was still a lost man. Soberbut lost. His mother had sent him toSunday school and church when he wasyoung. He had a head full of facts aboutGod, but his heart was empty.

Although he quit drinking, he wasstill doing pills and snorting coke.Right up until May 19, 1984. On thatday, a driving rainstorm caused Joe toshut down one night in Bartons,Oklahoma, where he got an over-whelming urge to go to church.

“I walked into that little Pentecostalchurch alone. And when the pastorgave the call to surrendermy life to Jesus Christ, Idid. There was no hokeystuff about it. I meant busi-ness. I prayed, ‘Lord, showme where to go, what to doand I will obey.”

The saving, cleansing presence ofJesus Christ took up residence in theempty heart of the tough guy from thenorth side of St. Louis. When hewalked back to his truck, he noticedthat he was conveniently parked rightnext to a dumpster. There he dumpedthe last of his drugs. He might be alonefrom time to time, but he’d never belonely again.

Since that time, Joe Willyard’s iden-

tity has been caught up in the person ofJesus Christ. His passion has becomeintroducing others to his Lord.

You may have seen Joe Willyard’sPeterbilt somewhere on the road. It’sthe one with the gorgeous mural of thesunset over the ocean painted on theside. On the hood’s painted, “Jesus ismy Pilot.” Ont he back’s the decal,“Get right with God or get left.”

Looking back on his own troubled,lonely childhood, Joe urges truckers tocommit their lives to the Lord and“train up a child in the way he shouldgo.” He knows that youth cannot getinvolved in the things of God too early.

The Bible verse that drives himmost is found in Luke 14:23: “Go outto the roads…and make them come in”(pg. 87). Truckers have given theirhearts to the Lord under the illumina-tion of the big spotlight on Joe’s truck.

“A constant problem facing truckersis loneliness,” says Joe. “The temp-tation of prostitution lies mainlyin just wanting to be with some-one, even if it’s just for a few min-utes. A woman’s voice on the CBsounds like heaven. It can be alonely life.”

“Becoming a follower of Jesusmeans that Satan is taken out andChrist comes in. The lonely spot in allof us is filled with the Son of God.Christ can give all the peace and com-panionship a man seeks.”