Do You Believe In Angels?

“Do You Believe In Angels” was the bold question posed in the subject field. The email blast from JCPenney was advertising their Angel Giving Tree Online Program. I took the question seriously and answered affirmatively, audibly. Sure, I believe in angels. There are the ones down in Anaheim. Then there are Michael, Gabriel and their cohorts in the Bible. Of course, there are the ones who look like Roma Downey and Della Reese. What about real angels in the present day?

All I can do is answer from my own experience. The Bible talks about entertaining angels unaware. There are times in my life that I believe my might have encountered an angel.

When I was in my mid 20’s, I was going through some extremely difficult times in my professional life. In the midst of the chaos that I found myself in, I was engaging in a typical transaction with a gentleman. A few minutes later, he returned to say, “I have a message for you”. I looked up to meet his eyes as he continued, “Be encouraged, Jesus loves you and will get you through this!” I babbled a confused., “Uhh…thanks”. Before my mind could form any other actual words, he was gone, never to be seen again. He might have not been an angel but he had right message that I needed to hear at the right time. That is a pretty gifted messenger.

Several years later, I received a frantic call from Chris. She had a flat tire on the freeway. A policeman had followed her as she drove on the rim off the freeway and into the first parking lot off the freeway. I valiantly dashed to my car to come to my love’s rescue and change the flat. We had a Toyota Minivan and tire changing was a difficult exercise. On this day I learned the crucial detail to a successful tire changing experience with that type of car was to only attempt it on a flat surface. As I cranked the crazy scissor jack on the uneven Home Depot parking lot, I was able to extract the deflated tire. However, it became clear that I was not going to elevate the car up high enough to get the inflated spare on. Nonetheless, I kept winding the jack as high as it would go and it slipped out from underneath the car. The tireless wheel dropped and landed on the asphalt. This was not good. I determined that if I could get a board underneath it could level the area the jack needed to be and could raise the jack a bit more off the ground. I ventured into the Home Depot. While I was gone, a truck with two men appeared out of nowhere. Chris explained what I said was needed. They jumped out of the truck reached into the back and pulled out the exact boards that were necessary and raised the car and changed the tire in seconds. On the way back from my quest for wood, I could see these guys talking to Chris. I put on my “tough guy” face and rushed over. Chris, amused by my “tough guy” face, assured me that things were fine. One of the guys tipped his cap as they jumped into their truck and sped off. We found it curious that these did not go into Home Depot. Why were they randomly driving through the parking lot with exactly what we needed? Who were these guys?

Well, I do believe in angels but I am not certain that these were angelic encounters. Either way God sent help in my time of need. So I am satisfied.

Have you entertained any angels unaware?