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Kishore
It has been sometime since I shared my spiritual experiences. It is a sad truth that we pay little attention to divine help when things are going fine. We become egoistic and assume that things are happening because of us.
We also don't remind ourselves of our blessings. I felt it is important to thank God regularly for our
blessings and share the experiences.
In November 2003, We went on a trip to Lake Tahoe, CA. The trip has been a safe one thanks to the blessings of God. I was reminded of how smooth this trip has been when a friend of mine went to the same place during November 2004 and narrated how tough his trip was.
Lake Tahoe is a snowy resort visited by many people in Bay Area during long weekends. My second daughter was less than one year old and I was not very eager to travel to such a cold place. A couple of months before November 2003, I visited Lake Tahoe during office trip. We had a project celebration and we stayed there for a day. Having gone there, I had an idea of the place and felt confident to make another trip with family. We also found company with a family friend.
Still I was concerned a lot that how I can drive my car in snow. I have never driven a car in snow which needs chains. I went ahead and purchased chains for the car. However I didn't have to use chains as the roads were clear during our journey both ways. My mind played the usual devil game making me live through worst that can happen. I pictured myself struggling put on the chains on the car in heavy snow. I imagined myself skidding on the road in the snow and being stuck in cold weather. Though it snowed in the mountains, the roads were clear and it was a pleasant ride. I was relieved when the trip was over. But learned that imaginary fears tend to grip us at various stages in life. We should use the fears to plan for the worst and take steps to overcome difficulties with best recourse. By having trust and faith in God, we should take step forward and trust in Him to show us guidance when needed.
Contrary to this, my friends trip during November 2004 was a tough experience where the journey back took around 10 hours compared to a normal 4 hour journey. I realized how lucky I was to have escaped such a tough experience. This would have been a difficult journey with a baby with us.
Since we were traveling along with a family friend, we decided to keep each other in view on the road. They were driving a van and while we were going in a car. We bought a pair of hand radios and used that to exchange information like where we plan to stop next etc.
Since I was tailing my friend's van on the road, I was doing everything they were today like passing a car when needed. For some reason they wanted to stop and took the emergency parking spot available on the road. Somehow, without realizing, I also stop immediately. I thought they wanted to take some pictures and thought of making a stop. Only after taking the exit, I realized that there was very little space. I had to brake hard to prevent hitting their van. My car stopped just one feet away from their van. I was a little embarrassed that I stopped without thinking about it and then thanked God that there was no accident.
We reached Lake Tahoe at around 3.00 PM after a couple of stops on the way and checked into the hotel. It was pleasant experience seeing snow for the first time. We stayed there for couple of nights.
Nights were cold and my second daughter could not sleep well due to cold.
We went up the snow mountain and played in the snow. It was very cold. We never experienced such a cold weather before but the experience was nice.
Instead of saying planned third day also, we decided to start early. We came back home one day ahead. After coming back, we came to know that weather has turned bad after we left. Next day it rained and people had difficulty in coming back.
Thanking God for every step of His protection in our life is important.
Jai Sriram, Jai Hanuman