When I picture angels, I think of flowing, white gowns and gossamer wings. Harps and halos. Sometimes, I picture them like the angels found in Jesus’ tomb. Or Gabriel as he visited Mary. And sometimes, I admit it, I see Roma Downey from Touched by an Angel.
But do they really need wings to walk among us? I think that God has used these otherworldly appearances for a lot of reasons- to instill a sense of awe in those that are visited, to make it clear that these messengers that are sent come directly from Him, etc. So it is just as likely that he has sent them to us in jeans and flip flops as in gowns.
We’ve probably all had these moments, when someone, somewhere crosses our path and fills a need, answers a question, or acts as a guide when we least expect it. We might have called it something like fate or coincidence. But why use words that just shrug off the gift we’ve been given, when instead we could be thankful for a God who watches over us and sees to our needs before we can even ask?
Back in 2003, I flew to Beijing, China to begin my last year of college as a student abroad. But my lack of experience with international travel, my slacking on my language training (I’d taken an ill-advised year off), and a clerical error all conspired to make my arrival a disaster.
When I got to the gate of where I would be staying at my new university, it was raining and getting dark. I had just spent 18 hours travelling across the world and had most of the cash I had brought taken by a corrupt taxi driver. Construction was going on all over the block where he had dropped me and I wasn’t even sure I was in the right place. I had no one to call, nowhere to go for help.
Suddenly, a Chinese girl stopped and asked if I needed help, in English. I was so relieved to have someone I could easily communicate with (she turned out to be an English major) that I quickly told her where I needed to go. Margaret introduced herself and walked me to the desk to check in and waited until I was done. Had she not been so kind, I might have slept on the street.
Because it turned out my scholarship had not been sent to cover my rent and I needed to pay to stay. I explained how much I had to Margaret, panicked and scared. She then spent the next five minutes haggling with the clerk in rapid fire Mandarin until he agreed to let me stay for three nights until I could get the rest of the money. I gave him my remaining cash and got my keys.
Margaret took me up to my room, showed me how to use the water boiler since I couldn’t drink from the tap, and gave me her number if I had questions. After she left, I went out and found a small grocery to buy dinner. I had enough for a bowl of ramen and a Diet Coke. I had to make it last three days, but at least I had a safe place to sleep.
What made her reach out to me, someone who was a stranger and very obviously foreign? Maybe she wanted to practice her English. Maybe she was empathetic enough to see the panic on my face. But surely God had placed her on that rainy sidewalk at the exact moment that I was there, needing a friend and an advocate. She was as much an angel to me as any with wings.
While I believe that there are angels sent down from above in all of their heavenly glory, I also believe that we are all called to act as God’s angels at times. There will be situations that call out to us, maybe ones that are outside our comfort zones. But we find ourselves supplied with the right thing to say, the right thing to do, and the perfect person to help.
So remember to open your eyes. Not only to see the angels among us, but also to see the opportunities to be those angels to others.
What situation is calling you to act as God’s angel? Have you felt the His helping hand through another person recently?
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