Sometimes things don't happen as you would expect. Consider the following article by Tom Ragan from The Gazette, the newspaper in Colorado Springs, CO.

CASCADE - Nearly 50 visitors were stranded Tuesday atop Pikes Peak for more than three hours after a snowstorm made the road to the summit too slippery to drive.

Tourists haven't been trapped on top of the 14,110-foot summit because of a snowstorm in at least three years, said Sgt Jeremiah Gallagher, a ranger for the Pikes Peak Highway. Six miles of the 19 1/2 mile highway that leads to the peak was shut down at 4 p.m. -from Glen Cove at the 13 mile marker to the summit. As lightning struck on all sides of the summit, rangers warned visitors over a loud speaker to seek shelter inside the Summit House or stay inside their cars, Gallagher said.

A few drivers more than halfway up were told to stay at Glen Cove. Those on their way down were told to halt. Those at the top of Pikes Peak didn't even give it a second though – except for the guy from Minnesota in a four-wheeler. "He was pretty sure he could do it, but we went with the lowest common denominator and told him no - that we had to shut her down" said Gallagher, referring to the highway. "That's our job, to make sure everybody's safe. "

The snow, which was coming hard for about a half hour, was deceiving at first, Gallagher said. "We didn't see it coming. It came rea fast. It hit, then stalled, then came back around again and dumped enough snow to cause the problems. "

Just about everybody was a good spirit about the inconvenience, Gallagher said. "Some were pretty anxious because they had things to do - dinner engagements they missed" he said. "But that's the name of the game when you're up 14,000 feet high. Anything can happen. ,.

It wasn't until after 7 p.m. that the drivers started making their way down again.

Big deal, you might say. Maybe you think it snows all the time in Colorado. (It doesn't) And, of course, it snows in New England, too. It's winter, after all, and that's what it does. Yes, I agree. And it snowed something awful here this weekend. Enough is still predicted that I am wondering if this bulletin will get used, or if services will be cancelled. But there's the rub. Yes, we were expecting this snow, and have been all week as they tracked the storm across the country. The storm in Colorado came a surprise and caught them when they weren't ready.

Think of the snow as your demise, as your death. Are you prepared? When we get old, maybe even get sick with cancer or pneumonia, the doctors will predict our final days. We have time to get a few things in order before the end. In the snowstorm above, the snow came suddenly, and people had affairs unfinished. Supposing it was their death, they simply weren't ready. It didn't make any difference, though: ready or not, there it was! That was it!

Perhaps, unfairly, you think they SHOULD have been ready for snow on Pikes Peak that day. I mean, come on, it snows in winter there even more than it does here. True, but this was late July! See yourself going from high 70's low 80's temperatures at the bottom of Pikes Peak and deciding to take a little sight-seeing trip. Why would you be thinking about snow? That's the farthest thing from your mind. Yet some of us here may be 18,20,25, even 35 or 40 years old. Plenty of time left in our lives, death is the last thing we're worrying about. Yet even the young die, are you ready?

I would confess a particular, personal interest in this story. As it happens, David and his hardy band of boy scout friends were in Colorado Springs that very day, and in fact had gone to the top of Pikes Peak at about 3 p.m.! They were one of the last cars down before the road got closed. Imagine, if this were a tragedy and those left behind had died, that David would have just barely escaped with his life. The message still applies, even to him - Are you ready?

Randy