Angels Among Us

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers,
for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.
Hebrews 13:2 (NASB)

Here’s a quick question for you...how many of you remember the show “Highway to Heaven”?  I absolutely loved that show growing up...yes, I am a child of the eighties.  I loved watching Michael Landon and Victor French week after week play the parts of these unassuming characters that would wind up being an angel.  How about the other show from the nineties… “Touched by an Angel”?  Monica, Tess, Gloria and Andrew week after week would touch the lives of others as they would personify an average member of society all the while they were actually angels.

Last week was an amazing week….
simply due to the visit of a “stranger” named Charles.  I have never seen him before and so far, I’ve not come across anyone who recognized him by the description I’ve given.  I did not catch his last name...and now suspect he has none.

Charles stopped in and wanted to know if he could use our sanctuary to pray.  I’m not about to tell someone that they can’t use our sanctuary to pray...however, I wasn’t going to just let someone I’d never met before who was displaying what I thought to be a “nervous-tick” wander around alone.

As we went in to the sanctuary, Charles sat down on the front pew and began to pray.  He prayed for this church, for it’s membership...those past, present and future...the staff and our families.  In the hour long conversation that followed, Charles began to tell me things and ask questions about myself and my family that there was no way possible he could have known...personal struggles as well as business struggles...NO WAY he could have known about theses things...unless he was truly sent by God.

He told me to let the church know that they need to not worry about things past but look to the future that God has for FPC, always keep their faith in Christ and to FINISH STRONG!  As he was leaving, he told me to ask Pastor Bob if he ever had eaten any “white castle hamburgers” while he was at seminary.  Charles told me the area where his car was parked but there were no cars near Wattles Office Supply that looked like a visitor to our area.  I left Charles in our driveway and returned to the office.  When I reached the door, I turned to yell “Bye!” one more time but he was gone...not to be found anywhere I looked.

The country music group “ALABAMA” had a song some years ago that went like this:  Oh I believe there are angels among us.  Sent down to us from somewhere up above.  They come to you and me in our darkest hours.  To show us how to live, to teach us how to give.  To guide us with the light of love.

I know some of you may play this off as a mere coincidence but I am one of “those people” who still believes that God can speak to us directly or indirectly in ANY way He so chooses...even through an angel named Charles.  Yes, I do believe in angels...and I do believe that they are ever present.

Dear friends, PLEASE be careful of how you treat strangers...I’m so thankful I followed the Holy Spirit’s guidance...for if I had not, I’d have never known the company of an angel.

Oh, and by the way, Pastor Bob told me that he and his seminary friends ate at White Castle Hamburgers MANY times while in seminary!