Angel in the Night

Years ago, I lived with my grandmother in her basement.  In the summertime, Uncle Dale would gather excess junk wood from around the place to burn.  A hard worker, Dale was born with acute learning disabilities.  He is an unusual man, who learns by asking questions and watching others work.  He lived with Grandma, helping to care for her until she died.  Uncle Dale is amazing and I love him.

One long-ago evening, we built a fire out on the lip of the canyon.  We pulled big old logs next to the fire and sat, watching the flame grow brighter in the gathering darkness. 

That night the conversation turned to angels.  Dale told a fascinating story from his own childhood.  He was very young when he and his two younger siblings were left at home alone.  In those days they didn't have electricity and as the sun set and the air grew dark, Mom and their brother Lawrence became frightened.  The children huddled together beside the front window, waiting and watching for their parents' return.

But Uncle Dale wasn't afraid.  He told me he wasn't fearful, because there was an angel watching over them from a nearby tree.

I asked him what the angel looked like.  Uncle Dale's description was amazingly detailed.  The robes the angel wore were made of light.  You couldn't see the angel's feet, because beams of that rainbowy light scudded down the tree to ripple across the ground. The angel held a shining sword and he smiled down at Dale as though to say everything would be alright.  Curiously he says when he told his younger siblings not to be afraid, the fear which had surrounded them vanished.

I believe sometimes God allows children to see past the fabric of our everyday world, into  supernatural events, which adults often disbelieve, or ignore.

I am so grateful for Dale's story.  I often wonder how many times we have been protected by God's angels and did not know it.  Perhaps that sense of peace and safety as we travel down the freeway comes because His angels are watching over us.

This isn't the first angel Uncle Dale saw as a child--but that is another Angel Story for another day.

Safeway Angel

A year and a half or so ago, I badly injured my leg to the point the entire limb swelled and turned a lovely black and blue.  To walk was extremely painful and it wasn't getting better.  I finally decided to go to the doctor.  

On my way home, I stopped at Safeway pharmacy to pick up a prescription for pain.   As I limped painfully toward my car, I carried several full bags of groceries, along with my purse and camera bag.  I juggled the bags to get to my purse, looking for keys to open the trunk of my car.

As I approached my car, keys finally in hand, I noticed a dark haired, middle-aged man half running toward me at a fast clip.   My first fleeting thought was to open the trunk to put my purchases inside before asking the man what he wanted.

But suddenly, without my knowing how it happened--the car was between me and the man.  It was though I had been boomeranged to the other side by a giant rubber band.  I was moved by something outside myself.  It felt like a strong, incredibly large invisible force had taken me by the elbow and whisked me beyond the man's reach.

Eerily, the man paced back and forth -- his movements, mirroring my own, gave the feeling of a predator trying to discern which way I might move, or run, in order to counter it.  He had a frightening look of desperation in his eyes.   

Shaken, I stood still and warily asked what he wanted.  The man stopped pacing, pushed his hands against the passenger window and said his car had broke down and he needed some money.  I told him I didn’t have any money.

Just then a security guard noticed what was happening.  By then the man, who'd also seen the guard, had bounced away from my car to accost another customer.  As the guard walked closer, the man quickly took off running across the  parking lot.

After speaking with the security guard, I headed home.  Interestingly enough, I actually drove past the man who’d frightened me.  He was riding along the highway--on a bike.  

I feel sure the man had followed me from inside the store where he’d seen me buy the prescription for Oxycodone.  It is highly likely his motive was to rob me.

The sensation of that invisible force, effortlessly moving me out of that man’s reach, still haunts my thoughts.  I am sure an angel scooted me to safety, then brought what was happening to the security guard’s attention.

I am so grateful for God's protection!!