MAR 26, 14 (2/2) .. GOD’S ESKIMOS

Before I get into discussing God’s Eskimos I want to post several photographs that I snapped from inside and from outside of our condominium in Anchorage Alaska showing you some scenes of late winter.

Looking out from our living room. A beautiful sunny late winter day in March.

Looking out from our bedroom window.

Outside views around our condo.

My Chevrolet Suburban quietly resting beneath another mantle of snow.

A photo of the front of our condo.  Our bedroom window is the lowest window to the immediate right of the porch and the porch railing. It’s difficult to see but it is there right down at ground level.

The road in front of our condo.

Turning 180 Degrees around from the above photo shows you our road looking back-upon-it.

Two photos of our little Honda in front of a snow-bank created by the winter snow-plowing of our parking lot snow accumulation.

To live here in Alaska you really must enjoy the winter and wonder at its beauty.

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The time has come the Walrus said to talk of many things .. Of God and of God’s Eskimos ..

Oh God Of Abraham .. just once in this lifetime of mine .. I wish you would give me .. in advance of its happening .. at least one small ‘hint’ that something spiritually monumental is about to occur in my life.

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In PART 1 above I wrote about God’s Spiritual Eskimos.. of believing in them or not.. and of recognizing them or not.

I also wrote of two weather-related (a snow storm and a flood) stories or urban legends about God’s Eskimos  ..

Now I am going to write my own true-story about one of my many life-encounters with God’s Eskimos.

In this story the ‘storm’ .. in this story the blizzard .. in this story the flood .. was NOT a storm or a flood caused by physical weather conditions. The ‘storm’ was created by two separate emotionally and physically perfect-storms caused by events that impacted me in that they caused within me fear and insecurity and distrust of my own abilities to persevere and to move forward along what I believe-to-be a God created journey for me .. that being to continue my India travels.

They caused within me a deepening depression because I was totally losing faith in myself that I would ever again travel to .. and enjoy the experience of .. India.

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As I have written many times I firmly believe that my ‘spiritual callings’ to travel to India have been God-given and God-directed.

My first India trip was from late October 1990 into May 1991.  My second India trip was from late 1992 into early 1993.  My third India trip .. a trip during which Patti accompanied me .. was in early 1996. My fourth India trip was in 1997. My fifth India trip was in early 1999.  My sixth India trip was during the summer of 2001.

So when the two below events impacted me .. I was both an experienced and (IF it is even possible!) a savvy India traveler with SIX (6) trips varying from three to seven months in duration under-my-belt.

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The first of the two storms occurred September 11th, 2001.  It became known to the world as NINE-ELEVEN.  I will call it ‘911’ here.

‘911’ shook-me-to-the-core with fears and insecurities about ever traveling outside of the United States again.  Because of many varying factors I was especially concerned about returning to India.  Keep-in-mind that during my 1990-1991 India trip .. Desert Storm (2 Aug 1990 to 28 Feb 1991) was underway in Kuwait. While in India I saw and I actually experienced quite a bit of ‘unrest’ within the population of the larger Indian cities resulting from the war in Kuwait.

I came to believe following ‘911’ and to learn several years later in 2004 .. ‘911’ was partially instrumental in creating within me a deepening depressive episode as I began to think that I would never again visit India.

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The second of the two storms began on Saturday, March 6th, 2004. I was in downtown Anchorage Alaska watching the start of the 2004 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race with my son Robb.

On that long-ago Saturday morning .. perhaps about 11AM .. I slipped on the ice and I fell and I broke my left knee-cap in two places. I was lucky I did not break both left and right knee-caps because upon falling I landed squarely on them both.

To the Emergency Room I went .. X-Rays were taken .. the prognosis was made .. and a walking-cast was placed stretching from my left hip to my left ankle. I spent seven weeks wearing the cast. Then in May of 2004 I began the recovery process necessary to restore normal movement to a leg that had been ‘straight out in a cast’ for seven weeks.

This ‘storm’ .. coupled-up-with the above ‘911 storm’ .. FURTHER curtailed my desire to travel back to India.  I had first-hand experience with political unrest in India well before ‘911’ and now I had first-hand evidence of my own vulnerability due to my fall on the ice in March of 2004.

As the autumn of 2004 unfolded for me in Alaska .. I sat wondering IF I was ever going to return to my beloved India!

I was depressed. The depression was deepening.

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December 27th, 1990, in New Delhi, India, at 7:25PM outside of the dining-hall of the Jai Singh Road YMCA .. I met Greg. Patti and I also call him ‘Grego’. Shortly thereafter .. in early January of 1991 Greg was joined in India by his special lady at the time Kathleen.  The three of us almost instantly became best of friends and remain so until this day.. some (can this be?) almost twenty four years later in year 2014 as I write.

Kathleen has a son named Noah. Back in the autumn of 2004 I had known of .. but had not met-in-person .. Kathleen’s son Noah. I had also heard much about Noah from Grego who thinks the world of him.

So there I was .. it was the autumn of 2004. My last trip to India had been from May until July of 2001 .. over three years earlier. So in addition to ‘911’ and my falling and breaking my left knee-cap .. I was beginning to feel far-removed from again visiting India.

‘911’ coupled with breaking my kneecap MADE ME REALLY FEEL MORTAL AND VERY VULNERABLE.  India .. God love her .. can be and is a very risky undertaking. Looking back in hindsight.. I now know that due to ‘911’ and fears for ones personal safety while traveling outside of the country coupled with fear of hurting myself.. as I did with my fall on the ice..

I had become paralyzed with fear ..

Looking back with 20-20 hindsight.. I now realize that I’d lost hope to again travel beyond the bounds of the United States and to again roam and explore the wonders of exotic and challenging foreign destinations especially India.

To lose one’s hope.. even if only a small part of it.. is an invitation for one to enter into the dark and gloomy cave of serious depression.

This depression of 2004 had nothing to do with the feelings around ‘911’. My year 2004 depression was the result of the fall and broken kneecap and the ensuing (and I mean literally) CRIPPLING of my ability to lead a full and active life because my left leg was in a cast. If you have not experienced having one leg in a cast you have no idea how this creates various challenges! Try sitting down in the bathroom with one leg straight out in a cast! You sort of aim your descent and then fall backwards and down onto the toilet seat! Getting dressed is also an on-going challenge.  I could go on but I won’t!

By the autumn of 2004 I was really slipping down into the dark-night-of-the-soul!

I was not so depressed that I was not actively praying on a daily basis to God and to the Holy Trinity for assistance with daily life. I thank God that I was not so depressed that I could no longer pray. I know this can certainly happen.. in fact I was praying for an hour or more a day. I had a lot of time-on-my-hands!

In mid-September of 2004 I traveled north from Anchorage Alaska to my cabin in Manley Hot Springs Alaska. I settled in for a visit. I continued to pray for guidance.. for knowledge of God’s will in my life and for the power to execute God’s will in my life.

Patti and I are able .. thanks to a pay telephone in Manley Hot Springs .. to keep in telephone contact. In early October during a telephone conversation Patti (ESKIMO ??) told me.. “You have a phone message here in Anchorage to call a man named Noel. Noel wants you to call him because he has questions about travel in India. Noel said Greg (ESKIMO ??) had given him your name as a good source of information about traveling in India.

My reaction to Patti’s relaying this information to me was:

(1) I do not know anyone named Noel who wants to know about India so why should I even return the call! THIS WAS THE DEPRESSION SPEAKING!

(2) I believe that ‘God’s will for us is simply to DO what is in front of us to do and to turn the results over to God’.. THAT is God’s will for us..

(3) Greg is such a special friend that I owe it to Greg to be polite to this Noel chap.

(4) I guess I will telephone this Noel.. grrrowl…

Just once in this lifetime .. before I die .. I wish God would loudly ANNOUNCE TO ME:

“Captain! Your Eskimo is around the next bend of your road! So just hang on.”

And so.. from Manley Hot Springs.. Alaska.. in October 2004 I dialed the telephone number for Noel that Patti had given me.

I got Noel’s answering machine and.. the instant .. the micro-second that I heard the voice on the outgoing message announcement identify himself.. the hair on the back of my neck stood up and I was almost overcome with emotion..

“Oh My God”.. I exclaimed to myself.. “OH! MY! GOD!”

Out.. wandering around in the midst of this emotional storm of my life.. a serious and deepening depression.. alone and losing hope.. MY ESKIMO had suddenly and without warning appeared..

The voice on the answering machine identified my caller NOT as Noel.. Patti’s answering machine in Anchorage had blurred the name so that Patti thought the name was Noel. The name of my messenger was NOT Noel.. it was in fact Kathleen’s son NOAH!

“Oh My God”.. I exclaimed again to myself.. “This is Kathleen’s son Noah..”

I left a brief message.. “Noah.. this is Cap.. I will call you back later..”

And I did.. and I got Noah .. Kathleen’s son..

He said and I said and God said…

“Cap.. What can you tell me about traveling in India?” .. Noah asked..

“Noah.. I WILL JOIN YOU and I WILL SHOW you everything I can about India IF you would like me to join you live-and-in-person!” .. I said with great enthusiasm..

“Captain.. my little Captain.. sometimes you REALLY GET IT AND YOU REALLY GET IT FAST.. I am proud of you on this one..” God said..

“Wow.. will you really join me?” Noah asked..

“We’ve got a deal!” I said..

“Bingo”.. God said..

And there you have ‘The Rest of the Story’ about one of my very own Spiritual and ACTUAL encounters with one of God’s Eskimos..

MUCH LOVE.. Cap..

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Epilogue.. Back in March of 2005 .. while still in India with Noah .. I wrote Noah’s Mom Kathleen this story. I shared it with Patti and Greg and Noah himself. I was in Agra Cantt India at that time .. home of the Taj Mahal.

I wrote it then .. and I am re-writing it now .. to also THANK GOD for the ‘Phoenix-like’ resurrection of my manic-self out of the ashes of my depressive-self back in the autumn of 2004.

NOT ONLY DID NOAH AND I travel to India in December of 2004 .. but Greg and his wife Tsering also joined us in New Delhi for several weeks. The four of us also traveled to Agra Cantt so that they could also meet Jeevan Lal.

Oh Baba Kaps.. You’re SUCH a clown.. What goes up.. MUST come down..

“Ah but this time it will be different.. won’t it God?”

“Little Captain.. we’ve had this discussion..”

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I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO-IDEA-WHAT-SO-EVER IF I WOULD EVER HAVE RETURNED TO INDIA HAD NOAH NOT CALLED ME IN OCTOBER OF 2004!  Since the 2004-2005 India trip I traveled to India in 2008, 2011-2012 and 2013.  ALL ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE TRIPS!

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