Highway Patrol

I don’t take Divine Mother’s assistance for granted, but Her record with me on the highway is pretty impressive.

I was with a female friend in San Francisco, on the way to the flower mart to get bouquets for a big event, when—BAM!—a tire blew. Very dramatic. I pulled into a gas station at the same time a man I didn’t know pulled up to the pump. He leapt out of his car and rushed over to me.

“I just love to help!” he said. A few minutes later, he had changed the tire and we were back on the road.

Another time I was in the middle of nowhere with a group of friends traveling in a vintage VW camper. Everything in the car worked fine except the gas gauge, so of course we ran out of gas. One of the guys started hitchhiking toward the next town.

I began to pray. As soon as the guys were out of sight, a big truck with flashing lights pulled in behind us. It was a fireman on his way to an emergency response workshop, and we were like his homework. Naturally he carried an extra can of gas.

So one day when I was driving on a winding mountain road near where I live, and unexpected rocks on the road blew out my tire, I was surprised that a few minutes passed and no one had come to help.

“Divine Mother,” I said playfully, “what’s taking so long?” At that moment a pickup truck pulled up next to me.

“Sorry you had to wait,” the driver said. “I was going the other way and had to make a U-turn. Then I had to get those rocks off the road before I could come and help you.”

—from Mantradevi