Angels in Our Midst

I was raised in a religious family.  My father went to Gettysburg Seminary to become a Lutheran minister.  My mother taught at a Franciscan private boarding school and a Catholic high school.  My brother attended the Franciscan high school and I went to a Catholic high school.  We were raised Lutheran in a small town that either went to the Lutheran church or the Methodist church.  We all have spent time singing in the choir and reading lessons from the Bible during services.

Both of my parents are well known in their church.  They are members of the church council.  My father will step in to help with services.

My brother has married a beautiful Jewish woman and has converted to Judaism.  They have raised three wonderful children who carry a great respect for their faith.

I carry my own beliefs.  Being raised Lutheran, attending Catholic school, observing my brother and sister-in-law's faith, I've had a chance to observe a couple different takes on religion.  In high school, I did a comparative study on several other religions vs. ancient religions/mythologies.  While I do believe in an Ultimate Good and conversely, an Ultimate Evil, I am not willing to give either a name or label like God or Goddess or Devil.  When I do refer to God or the Devil, it is in respect to my Christian upbringing.  It also makes my religious references easier to understand by the more common names.

That being said, what about angels?

Winged Figure by Abbott Handerson Thayer c.1889  Picture from galleryhip.com

Traditionally, angels symbolize the seraphim and the celestial hierarchy.  We recognize them in art and symbiology as humanoid beings with wings, a halo of light around their heads and white robes.  Some are shown as cherubs, usually male baby angels with wings, though also shown sexless in many references.  Angels are normally recognized as being sexless, though for the sake of humanizing them, some artists have made them male or female.

I'm not going to get into the celestial hierarchy here.  While it is an extremely fascinating subject, it has nothing to do with the subject of my post.

I am more interested right now with angels on earth.

We've all heard the Nativity Story as it is told in the Bible.  One doesn't need to be a Christian to know it and most Christians can recite it to some degree.

In the story, the angel, Gabriel, came to the virgin, Mary, to deliver the news of her pregnancy.  A choir of angels announced the coming birth of the Messiah to a group of shepherds.  Most nativity scenes show an angel as being present at the birth of Jesus.  This is when many Christians may tell you the angels were first documented as sharing our space on Earth.

If you take a look at the Old Testament, you will find that angels were present at the Creation.  You may also remember that Lucifer was originally an angel, the Morning Star fallen from Heaven to become Satan, the Adversary.

Those, among others, are the stories of the Bible, but what of angels today?

Photo from angelghosts.com

We hear stories of angels appearing across the world.  People have reported seeing angels during near-death experiences.  Others claim to have caught an angel on film.  These pictures can be found across the Internet.  Whether they are random cloud formations, light caught just the right way, spirits caught on film or real life angels, I can't say.

I can only tell you of the angel I have encountered in my own life.

My story happened about 13 - 14 years ago.  A lot was going on at that time, so I can't really pinpoint the day, let alone the month.  I was in a very bad relationship.  My job was good, but it was my first as a manager and my boss had her favorites, of which I was not one.  I went through three cars in a year.  Alcohol was again becoming a solution to my problems.  With all of these as factors, it's no wonder I can't remember the full circumstances of the incident.

What I do remember is that I locked my keys in my car.  I was supposed to be somewhere that evening - I think I was visiting a friend for some much needed support.  Her husband was going to drive me to their house and had followed me home.  Getting out of the car, the keys got left and I needed them to get something from my apartment before we went to their place.

I had Roadside Assistance, so I called.  I was told they would be there in about an hour, so we settled in the husband's car to wait.  Two and a half hours later, it was starting to get dark.  We needed to get going and my assistance was still 45 minutes out.  We decided to take matters into our own hands.

Digging around his car, we found a wire hanger and a small flashlight.  We went to work, taking turns trying to break into my car with no luck.  Darkness was quickly closing in.

It was the beginning of a bad joke: A Lutheran and a Seventh-Day Adventist try to break into a car.

After about 20 minutes, a car came flying down the street and screeched to a stop behind my car.  A guy jumped out of the driver's seat, went to the trunk of his car to grab a jimmy set and used it to pop my car lock open.  Without even waiting for a thank you, he jumped back into his car, backed out of the driveway and sped on his way.  Afterward, we called Roadside Assistance, thanked them for their "effort" and told them we no longer needed help.

To this day, I have no idea who this man was.  He was young and I think there was a young woman in the car next to him.  He barely said a word, only that he saw we needed help and that he had the jimmy to open the car door.

He didn't drive past and back up to see if we needed help.  He barely even slowed down.  He didn't even park directly behind me.  He was speeding down the street and screeched to a stop at a diagonal behind my car.

I don't know how he even knew we needed help.  When he pulled in, we were standing at the car, taking a quick break from our break-in.  My friend's husband and I were talking and didn't see the car until it stopped, its headlights illuminating us and the car.  He couldn't have seen any indication of what we had been doing.

Yet, somehow he knew.  Maybe he saw some indication that I can't put my finger on.  Maybe something told him we needed help.  I'm inclined to think of him as an angel.

Picture from m.kosmixmedia.com

I may not be religious in the Christian sense.  I hold strong to my own beliefs.  I know there is good and evil.  I believe in the spiritual, the paranormal and the supernatural.

My angel didn't have wings or a halo.  He wasn't even wearing white.  He didn't float down from Heaven in a shaft of bright light.  There was no celestial chorus.

My angel arrived in a fast car.  He left tire tracks across a corner of my lawn.  His radio was blasting heavy metal.  He jimmied my car like a professional thief.

My angel showed me proof of angels in our midst.