I grew up with CB radios. For the experience deprived youngsters who might be reading this, a CB stands for citizen’s band. It was one of those things that came out before cell phones and enabled people to communicate while driving. The drawbacks were that you could communicate only with those on the same channel within about a 10-15 mile range – on a good day and open, flat terrain. And everyone with a CB heard your conversation.
This was the culture for truck drivers. They had their own lingo and “handles.” In 1975, C.W. McCall produced a song named Convoy. Breaker 1-9. Pig Pen and Rubber Duck were a mile out of Shaky Town on I-one-oh, heading for Tulsa Town when Rubber Duck radioed I’m about to put the hammer down. Their convoy had grown to 85 trucks. As they approached the Cloverleaf, the bears were wall-to-wall, as thick as bugs on a bumper and there was a bear in the air. Rollin’ up Interstate 44 like a rocket sled on rails, they approached a toll booth, but Rubber Duck didn’t have a dime. The decision was made. They were gonna crash the gate doing 98 and let them truckers roll, 10-4.
Some of you are scratching your head trying to figure out that story. Others smile as they reminisce, remembering the song. My grandpa was a truck driver, so the lingo and story of the song always made perfect sense to me. You knew that truck drivers typically used channel 19 and channel 9 was used for emergencies. This was also the era when movies and television shows featured the truck driving culture. I watched every episode of BJ and the Bear! Anyone else remember that show?
What prompted this walk down memory lane for me was the fact that today is National 10-4 Day. That simple response – 10-4 – meant that the message was received and understood. Sometimes, a person might have said, “10-4. Read you loud and clear.” It was often preceded by a question. Breaker, breaker 1-9. Pig Pen, this here’s the Rubber Duck, ya got your ears on, good buddy? Pig Pen’s response would be, “That’s a big 10-4!”
People walking into church today are going to hear a different lingo than is typically used in the general public of the world. It’s a language that expresses our faith – the holy business in which we are involved. As a pastor steps to the pulpit with Bible in hand and a sermon in their heart, they are wanting to ask the congregation, “Ya got your ears on, good buddy?” From the congregation should erupt, “That’s a big 10-4, Preacher Man!”
After Jesus shared the parable of the sower and the seed, He said in Matthew 13:9, “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” To each of the seven churches of the Revelation, Jesus said, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” (Revelation 3:22) The desired response was, “Read you loud and clear. Message received and understood.” But there’s more to it than that.
The military uses a term: WILCO. Hollywood used the phrase Roger WILCO. Roger was
the equivalent of 10-4. WILCO means will comply. I will DO the right thing with this message. James 1:22 says, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” Many sitting in churches today will give the sermon a big 10-4 – message received and understood – but there is no WILCO – no decision to will comply.
Today, let’s have our ears on. Let’s give a big 10-4 to the Word of God. And let’s comply, putting into practice the words of Paul found in Philippians 4:9. “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.”
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