Driving Lesson

from Uddhava

It was 5:00 p.m., already dark and snowing hard. Only those who had to be there were out on the road. At age twenty-six, that included me. I had a date with my girlfriend and no mere blizzard was going to keep me from her. I know how to drive in snow.

There were two lanes in each direction. The plows had been through and the center divide was piled high with snow. In the far right lane, going my direction, commuters were making their cautious way home at a steady twenty-five miles per hour.

I had the left lane all to myself and was going thirty-five to forty. I was halfway past a group of about ten cars, when suddenly one of the commuters pulled into my lane. Either he was blinded by the conditions or he hadn’t even looked back, never imagining someone would be coming up so fast on his left.

I was going so much faster than the car in front of me that just taking my foot off the accelerator wouldn’t slow me enough. But if I hit the brakes, I would skid into the cars next to me, or slam into the snow piled on the other side. A collision was inevitable.

That’s when I blacked out.

The next thing I knew I was in the right-hand lane in front of the whole line of cars I had been passing. My car was fishtailing like crazy and my only thought was, “I have to get control of the car.” Which I did; I know how to drive in snow.

What happened to the guy who had pulled in front of me? I’ll never know.

I was not a religious person at that time. So my first, second, and third thoughts were not “Thank you, God.” But I knew Someone had taken over the driving and put me back in the car only when He knew I could handle it.

Although it took years for the seed to sprout, this was the beginning of my spiritual awakening. From then on I knew that this world is not what it seems.