Yesterday in bible study one of the lady's shared a story. During WWII, the brother of Mary M was in a fox hole with another soldier. As they sat there, the men looked out and saw an angel under a nearby tree. Her befuddled brother said to the other soldier, "Do you see that?" He did. The angel sat there, waved his arm, and beckoned them to come over toward him. The two soldiers decided to go toward the angel. As they left the foxhole a shell of some sort exploded in the place where they had been. He can never tell the story without weeping.
Such stories are not common, nor are they unprecedented. We have all heard of strange events or read about them. When I was younger I reveled in such stories. I got excited hearing about amazing things. It made beleiving more exciting. I find I am les prone to such reactions in my latter years. Part of the reason is I have been duped so many times. Exciting stories sometimes turn out to be frauds, whether intentional or not. There is also a theological reason, I have been instructed often (sometimes sternly) that we are to have faith and not look for proof. Another reason is less attractive. The current age is more cynical, more dominated by skepticism and unbelief, than my youth. We live in a post-church, dying faith period. Sometimes I just turn from these stories, tired of the battles with unbelievers.
There are also the 'why' questions. When one thinks of the millions who died during the war, soldier and civilian, it does raise the question, "Why would God send an angel to save two men in a brutal war while so many suffered and died?" "Why not more such interventions?" "Why this one and not that one?"
One answer is "God is inscrutable, shut up and worship." This is the answer of the Book of Job. Part of me thinks it is the best answer. Another answer is "God intervenes to save. Those isolated acts are reminders of His power, but the kingdom has not come yet." This seems closer to the ministry of Jesus. The Lord taught and healed some, but so many others never met or heard Him. His works were part of the hidden salvation of our God. A wonderful sign of better days ahead. Another answer is, "Stuff like angels does not happen, it is a figment of overactive imaginations." I am not buying that one.
The last answer, however rational it sounds, ignores one fact. Two men saw an angel. The angel beckoned and they responded. Their lives were saved. They lived to tell the story. It was an experience of saving grace. It happened.
I think there are angels among us. I also think they are not usually manifest in such remarkable ways as for Mary M's brother. Even so, God is among us, saving and rescuing the lost. Some folks believe it, others don't. I do.
I do, too =)
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of cool God stories...
ReplyDeleteMaundy Thursday evening was spent in a hospital room. Through the evening and through Good Friday, we watched my father-in-law slipping away from us. Our daughter (age 11) called our attention Thurs evening to a hospital room window directly across her grandpa's window. A single support frame and a florescent light formed a large cross. It was the only window with the cross. The cross stayed in the window all the way through to Saturday morning and then it was gone. Saturday morning, my father-in-law made a startling recovery. He has since been released from the hospital to a rehab facility. If you ask my daughter, she will tell you quite firmly that Jesus stood at her grandpa's window and kept him from dying.
thanks for that, another story of God's presence. I think it helpful to meditate on such things. It reveals something of the ways God works among us. Your daughter is an angel, too, a messenger from God reminding us of Him!
ReplyDeleteMom told me the story of when I was about 2 or 3 and she accidently gave me poison. We were living in Chicago and there was no one around to take me to the hospital. She ran out to the street just as a man drove up and parked in front of the house. She jumped in his car and told him to take her to the hospital, which he did. She never saw him again. She believed it was an angel. It may have been that God just used some human in an incredible way.. either way, I am sure it was no coincidence or accident.
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