Honk! Honk!

Driving on the roads in Nepal takes a real skill and talent. You have to know the rules and "customs" for driving. Those rules are: 1) anything goes. There really are no lanes except you stay on the left side of the road when you feel like it. You can pass anywhere, anytime as long as... well, you want to. So, the horn of your vehicle is a very valuable tool. It has a meaning and a language all its own. As we were driving on the road from Kathmandu to Pokhara, I had the opportunity to sit back, relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way. But, it's difficult to relax when horns are constantly blowing. After a while you get used to it and you tend to ignore it. But, as time passed, the trip became very long and I found myself taking great interest in this horn blowing. I learned through careful listening and watching, these honks weren't just some random acts. They truly had a special purpose and meaning. Before you wanted to pass someone, you honked your horn. This meant, I'm going to pass you, so watch for me. If you honked several times before passing, it meant move over you are in the middle of the road and I can't get around you. When we came to an intersection in the road they honked to let others know they were coming. A kind of', courtesy honk. Another honk meant don't pass to an oncoming car because I'm going around this vehicle and if you pass from the other direction we will have a head on collision. Sometimes the honk said thank you to a vehicle which allowed us to pass. And yes, there was the universal honk which simply said hello to a friend. But... in the middle of all the honking, I never really saw the horn used for a weapon or crazy tool like it is used in America. You know, you get the horn if you are too slow, too fast, too____________ . Fill in the blank. You get the idea. As I put more thought into this horn blowing, I thought about the beginning of the trip when I was ignoring the horns and I inserted myself. There have been many times, when traveling down life's highway, when God was blowing his horn at me. I chose to ignore it because I thought I knew best or I had the answers. I kept on going my way. Soon, I discovered I needed to listen to God's horn because it had a very special meaning just for me. He wanted me to take a different road.
Please keep us in your prayers,
With God's Honk! Honk!
Mark Lamfers