I don’t believe in wimpy angels. I believe in warrior angels. You notice in the Bible when an angel appears to someone, the first thing he says is, “Do not be afraid.” Think about that a little bit! Those are the kind of angels I want protecting me!
Here’s the story.
Two directionally challenged little old ladies awaiting a morning flight out to Houston, were stuck overnight in a strange city (Atlanta), following a three day conference. But we (me and friend, Stephanie) discovered a wonderful thing – the Astros were playing the Braves that very night at Turner Field... with Friday Night Fireworks to follow!
Sooooo….adventuresome duo that we were….we decided to save ourselves a twenty dollar taxi ride and catch all sorts of mass transit (hereto after called Marta) to the stadium…both ways. Praying first for protection, and the company of angels, off we went. First take the hotel shuttle to the airport. Then hop on Marta, some sort of partially underground express bullet light rail train thingy, to the hub at 5 Points station. Then disembark and wind our way through Underground Atlanta with its mixture of tattoo and piercing parlors (a little bit scary even in daylight), faithfully following the “Braves Shuttle” signs to a Marta City Bus that deposited us at the corner of Abernathy and Pollard…right in front of the stadium. PIECE OF CAKE.
On our grand adventure we saw, stalked, got a picture of, and actually touched the Braves legend Tom Glavine as he departed from the press box; Stephanie, cheering enthusiastically, almost got punched out by a punk 20 year old Braves fan in need of anger management classes; and I almost caught a t shirt thrown into the crowd by Jane, the blond and overly smiley Braves drill team personality. So after a wonderful time, but not so wonderful game, it was quite late and time to head home. In the dark.
PIECE OF CAKE IN REVERSE. Quick prayer for protection and company of angels. Uh…find Abernathy and Pollard. Board Marta City Bus. Pray we don’t have to walk through the Atlanta Underground alone. Board the Marta light rail thingy at 5 Points station. Return to airport. Board hotel shuttle back to hotel. PIECE OF CAKE, sort of.
Sitting on a concrete bench in the subway, or whatever it was, with 19 minutes until arrival of the Marta train, we began to notice there weren’t many little old ladies like us in the neighborhood. 18 minutes to go. We looked up and there stood two tall, very muscular, gentlemen sporting crew cuts and Braves t shirts a few feet from our bench. They weren’t really talking, just sort of standing there very straight and tall. 17 minutes. 16. 15. 12. Never flinching or moving, not even their heads, they occasionally appeared to be scanning the area as they stood there. They literally never moved. Just their eyes scanned, side to side, as a variety of neighborhood characters strolled by. 3 minutes. 2 minutes. 45 seconds. Stephanie and I stood up to move towards the expected train. They followed.
The door we were headed for was pretty crowded, so I turned quickly and headed to a different one. Stephanie, seeing the gentlemen heading a different direction, said out loud, “We just lost our angels,” then turned around and they were boarding the train immediately behind her. By this time we were smiling.
The train was so crowded, we had to stand. They stood behind us.
After a few stops, people got off and we found seats. They sat behind us.
We were still smiling.
The very last stop was the airport. It was just about midnight. We were kind of just dumped out on a platform and left to figure out where in the world to go from there. We went one way, then circled back, when one of our angels (I’ll call him, Steve) asked us how to get to the hotel shuttles. (Asked us? HA!) Redirected, we followed him down an escalator and chatted briefly. His friend, (I’ll call him, Buford, in honor of the Buford Highway that we passed everyday on the way to the conference), never said a word. Not one word.
Told him we were from Houston and had been to the game tonight. He said they were from San Antonio. We asked, “Military?” He said, “When you’ve been in as long as we have, it’s hard to hide it.” Asked him what hotel he was staying at, so we could help find the right shuttle. Hmmmm…he couldn’t remember at all.
At the bottom of the escalator, we turned to find the restrooms. They stood there watching until we disappeared. We still haven’t stopped smiling.
Psalm 91: 11 – 12 For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands that you do not strike your foot against a stone.
Showing posts with label angels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label angels. Show all posts
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Angels and other Mysteries
I am not a theologian. There is so much about God that I can’t even wrap my brain around. I think the Sovereignty of God is easy for me, because of that. Yet at the same time, I love the supernatural side of God. I think most of the time we are so busy in our lives and so sterile in our “religion” and even our relationship that we don’t take time to meditate on the supernatural part of God. The mystery. Then we are surprised if we ever notice it or are ever blessed enough to experience it.
God is honored for what he keeps secret. Proverbs 25:2
To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Luke 8:10
Let man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 1 Corinthians 4:1
One of the most intriguing verses in the Bible to me is Hebrews 13:2 --Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so some have entertained angels unaware.
When our kids were growing up, we chose to teach them about angels. The Bible tells us that children’s angels continually behold the face of the Father. We recognized their participation in our lives as messengers, protectors. As we slept at night and drove down the highway, the preceding prayers were for the protection of angels around our house, around our windows, and around our cars. We knew definitively that the reason our house was the only house on the street that never was robbed wasn’t because of the big friendly dog in the backyard, but because of the angels who stood guard over our home. However, when the van flooded in high water just a block from our driveway and two never seen before teenagers appeared from nowhere and pushed us into the driveway, and refused to accept money because as they said, “we just came here to help…” it was my preschool daughters who asked if they were angels…not me.
Mandisa sings a song that got me to thinking about the times in my life I could not explain…the mysteries. It may not be totally theologically accurate, but it brought back some of the mysteries of my personal faith journey. Listen to the words of “God Speaking” by Mandisa --
Have you ever heard a love song,
That set your spirit free?
Have you ever watched a sunrise,
And felt you could not breathe?
What if it’s Him? What if it’s God speaking?
Have you ever cried a tear
that You could not explain?
Have you ever met a stranger
Who already knew your name?
What if it’s Him? What if it’s God speaking?
Who knows how He’ll get a hold of us?
Get our attention to prove He is enough
He’ll do, and He’ll use whatever He wants to
To tell us, I love you
Have you ever lost a loved one
Who you thought should still be here?
Do you know what it feels liketo be tangled up in fear?
What if He’s somehow involved?
What if He’s speaking through it all?
His ways are higher
His ways are better
And though sometimes strange
What could be stranger than God in a manger?
Who knows how He’ll get a hold of us?
Get our attention to prove he is enough
He’ll do and He’ll use whatever He wants to
To tell us, I love you
My mother in law was dying of cancer. She had breast cancer that metastasized into the liver. We made a few trips home in the last months to see her. One day Duane mentioned to his sister and me that as her organs began to fail one by one and her body began to slowly shut down, that it was almost like someone was going through the house/ through her body turning off the lights. One by one. I thought that was a pretty accurate word picture.
About a week later, his sister called me. She asked if I remembered what Duane said, and if we had shared that with anyone else. I asked why, and she told me this story. She had called her mom that morning to check on her and her mom said that the strangest thing had happened. She was sleeping in the lazy boy in the den, because she just couldn’t get comfortable in bed. The lazy boy faced down a long hallway that had three bedrooms and a bath off of each side of it. She was dozing off, but woke up to see a man in the house going from room to room and turning off the lights. She thought it was Duane’s younger brother, Craig, who had let himself in to the house, and was perturbed at him for not stopping to give her a hug first. She realized that it wasn’t’ Craig, but then dozed off again. It must have been a dream.
My sister-in-law whispered, “It wasn’t a dream, was it?” I don’t think I could even answer her. Within a few weeks, Duane’s mom was in the arms of Jesus.
Who knows how He’ll get a hold of us? Get our attention to prove HE IS ENOUGH.
Job 11:7 Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
God is honored for what he keeps secret. Proverbs 25:2
To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Luke 8:10
Let man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 1 Corinthians 4:1
One of the most intriguing verses in the Bible to me is Hebrews 13:2 --Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so some have entertained angels unaware.
When our kids were growing up, we chose to teach them about angels. The Bible tells us that children’s angels continually behold the face of the Father. We recognized their participation in our lives as messengers, protectors. As we slept at night and drove down the highway, the preceding prayers were for the protection of angels around our house, around our windows, and around our cars. We knew definitively that the reason our house was the only house on the street that never was robbed wasn’t because of the big friendly dog in the backyard, but because of the angels who stood guard over our home. However, when the van flooded in high water just a block from our driveway and two never seen before teenagers appeared from nowhere and pushed us into the driveway, and refused to accept money because as they said, “we just came here to help…” it was my preschool daughters who asked if they were angels…not me.
Mandisa sings a song that got me to thinking about the times in my life I could not explain…the mysteries. It may not be totally theologically accurate, but it brought back some of the mysteries of my personal faith journey. Listen to the words of “God Speaking” by Mandisa --
Have you ever heard a love song,
That set your spirit free?
Have you ever watched a sunrise,
And felt you could not breathe?
What if it’s Him? What if it’s God speaking?
Have you ever cried a tear
that You could not explain?
Have you ever met a stranger
Who already knew your name?
What if it’s Him? What if it’s God speaking?
Who knows how He’ll get a hold of us?
Get our attention to prove He is enough
He’ll do, and He’ll use whatever He wants to
To tell us, I love you
Have you ever lost a loved one
Who you thought should still be here?
Do you know what it feels liketo be tangled up in fear?
What if He’s somehow involved?
What if He’s speaking through it all?
His ways are higher
His ways are better
And though sometimes strange
What could be stranger than God in a manger?
Who knows how He’ll get a hold of us?
Get our attention to prove he is enough
He’ll do and He’ll use whatever He wants to
To tell us, I love you
My mother in law was dying of cancer. She had breast cancer that metastasized into the liver. We made a few trips home in the last months to see her. One day Duane mentioned to his sister and me that as her organs began to fail one by one and her body began to slowly shut down, that it was almost like someone was going through the house/ through her body turning off the lights. One by one. I thought that was a pretty accurate word picture.
About a week later, his sister called me. She asked if I remembered what Duane said, and if we had shared that with anyone else. I asked why, and she told me this story. She had called her mom that morning to check on her and her mom said that the strangest thing had happened. She was sleeping in the lazy boy in the den, because she just couldn’t get comfortable in bed. The lazy boy faced down a long hallway that had three bedrooms and a bath off of each side of it. She was dozing off, but woke up to see a man in the house going from room to room and turning off the lights. She thought it was Duane’s younger brother, Craig, who had let himself in to the house, and was perturbed at him for not stopping to give her a hug first. She realized that it wasn’t’ Craig, but then dozed off again. It must have been a dream.
My sister-in-law whispered, “It wasn’t a dream, was it?” I don’t think I could even answer her. Within a few weeks, Duane’s mom was in the arms of Jesus.
Who knows how He’ll get a hold of us? Get our attention to prove HE IS ENOUGH.
Job 11:7 Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
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