A Ride with a former Green Beret

28 November 2015

Yesterday I was walking north of Sugar City, Idaho on U.S. 20 when this pickup pulled over to give me a ride.  The guy’s name was Ted and he looked like he was in is late sixties or early seventies.  He was driving from Utah to Billings, Montana.  I told him that I was heading to Belgrade, Montana.

Ted spent 12 years in the Special Forces (Green Berets).  He did four tours in Vietnam.  Ted was from the Crow Reservation south of Billings.  He said that he was 15/16 Crow and 1/16 French.  I told Ted that I had hitchhiked across the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Reservations a number of times over the years.

Ted told me that, when he saw me, something hit him between the eyes and told him to pick me up.  We had a great talk all the way to Belgrade.

I told Ted that I was involved in intercession and spiritual warfare.  He told me that he had been working on a project on the Crow Reservation for 20 years to help the Crow Nation become more independent of federal welfare programs.  Ted has met with a lot of opposition.  I told him about the power of prayer and we talked much on the things of God.

We stopped at a gas station in Henry’s Lake, Idaho.  Ted bought me some biscuits and gravy and something to drink.  We then walked back to the pickup and he handed me a plate of Thanksgiving Dinner.  He told me that his friends in Utah prepared him a plate of dinner for him to eat on the road.  Ted knew it was for someone else.  As he drove through Utah, he saw this homeless guy (maybe in Salt Lake City) and offered him that plate of food.  The homeless guy told him that he had just eaten some dinner.  So Ted gave me the plate of food; I was very grateful.

Ted told me something interesting.  He said that his great grandfather was a Crow scout for Colonel George Custer.  His great grandfather had fought with Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn.  His name was Gozerhead.  Ted said that the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne tribes were allied with the Blackfeet during the Indian Wars.  I told Ted that I have always enjoyed reading military history and that I worked for this guy on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming–he was from the Arapaho tribe.  He told me that he had an uncle who did seven tours in Vietnam.

I love it when the Lord puts someone in your path and you have a lot in common with them.  When this happens, either you will say something that they were supposed to hear or else they will say something that you were supposed to hear.  It may be one word or one sentence and then the Lord engrafts it into your spirit and you grow stronger from it.  Some Christians call this a rhema* word.  You could also call it our Daily Bread.  Jesus is the Word of God and He is the Bread from Heaven.

Ted dropped me off just south of Belgrade and continued on to Billings.  I walked to the McDonald’s and got some tea to drink and sat down and read the Bible till it got dark.  I then walked to this junk pickup on the far side of town and hunkered down for the night.  It got down to minus three degrees Fahrenheit that night.  My two water bottles froze solid, my loaf of bread froze solid, the sandwich that Ted bought for me froze solid, but I did not freeze solid (actually, I stayed nice and warm that night).  It had been a very blessed day on the road.

*Rhema

Special Forces
The Art of War
At a Cafe in Merriman, Nebraska