A Whisper In My Ear From The Universe

It was Spring of 2013 and I received a call from my mother who was living in a rooming-house in North Philadelphia. She called me to ask if I could go to the University Of Pennsylvania Hospital to pick up her medication from the pharmacy. I said yes. I will go. So, on a seemingly bright sunny, and comfortable weekday afternoon. I proceeded to catch public transportation to make my way to the U of P hospital to pick up my mother's diabetic medications. I arrived at the hospital, checked in with security and found my way to the pharmacy. I waited for a while because there were other patrons waiting for their medicine as well. The pharmacist called me to the window and said I will have to wait a little longer because the doctor prescribed a medication that was not covered by my mother's Medicaid insurance and that they will have to prescribe her the generic version of the medication.

I said that's fine, I'll wait. About 15 minutes later they called my mother's name and I leaped to my feet and walked over to the pharmacy counter. The pharmacist thanked me for being patient and I replied no problem this errand gave me something to do to get me out of the house. At this point, I exit the pharmacy and began to look for the elevators to take me to the main floor entrance doors. As I departed the elevators and as I am walking and looking towards the main entrance/exit doors I noticed that the clouds were overcast in the sky. Not paying too much attention to this I reached the main entrance doors and they automatically opened and I stepped out under the pedestrian shelter as you enter and exit the hospital building. The shelter extends from the main entrance automatic doors down to the far left (maybe 50-80 feet) to the valet parking station.

In addition, there were other hospital employees and patients waiting for their rides to pick them up under the shelter too. As I am about to walk to the bus stop across the street it begins to drizzle, I say to myself "aww man, I didn't bring an umbrella with me". So I stand there under the shelter with everyone else to wait for the rain to stop, but it never did. In fact, the rain got even harder and harder and everything came to a complete halt. The busses stopped, the cabs stopped and pulled over to the side, people begin to scramble for shelter to get out from under this deluge of rain. It rained so hard it seemed like the rain was mad with the ground. As I am standing there under the shelter looking to see if anyone else was going to make a run for it to their car, the bus stop, or hail a cab which they probably wouldn't be able to anyway because everything stopped.

It is at this point I hear a small voice in my head that says "step out". I turned around to see if there was someone behind me talking to me, there wasn't anyone there. I am still standing there watching this hard torrential rain come down with fury. Again, I hear in my mind; "step out" and I say to myself I am not stepping out there it's raining like cats and dogs. A few seconds go by and I hear it again "step out" and this time I say to my self "ok it's just rain if I get wet I get wet". This is a true statement, as soon as I stepped out from under the shelter the rain completely stopped, the clouds dissipated and the Sun came out. I walked over to the bus stop and waited for the bus to take me to my mother's house to bring her the medicine I picked up from the pharmacy. I can only conclude that the Universe was testing my obedience to see if I would trust it in a storm. Remember those from history that was encouraged, inspired, and believed in something bigger themselves and was able to share those experiences with others.

Irvin Dinkins