I suppose most Christians have thought about the presence of angels if not the “real “kind then some popular understanding of these celestial beings as portrayed in popular media. Of course most believers in theses ‘ministering spirits’ almost universally identify them as creatures of flight that is having wings and mostly female. There are not many with masculine traits although there are named male angels citied in the Bible. Then there are those few among us who ‘know’ the difference between reality and fantasy and dismiss these as did Scrooge who claimed this in his Christmas vision to be the result of a bad case of indigestion.
In Biblical literature, there are ‘good’ angels and ‘bad’ angels. The good would be those who serve the Almighty; the bad who represent the underworld. Most believers tend to hold fast to the benevolent beings, the kinds such as the guardian angels who are there to protect us from harm, especially those who are very young and their opposite. I still hold vividly in my mind a framed picture I saw as a child hanging in the room of an elderly (younger than I am now) relative. In color, the artist had created a frightening stormy scene, rugged surroundings, rocky outcroppings parted by a swiftly flowing mountain stream. A crude bridge crossing the steam was held together by slack ropes with wooden slats for the walkway. The scene was about as frightening to a child as the artist could possibly make it, but to accentuate the danger he added one more element to the scene.
Crossing the bridge being slashed by the elements was a little girl holding on to the rope laced sides. But wait! The artist was not finished. To a little boy, it was like a happy ending to a fairy tale.
Just above the bridge and the little girl was the reason the story would end happily ever afterwards.
It was her Guardian Angel in flowing red, gold and white attire supported by her powerful wings making a safe passage for her tiny charge. One looking at the picture would be reassured that all was well.
Today I talked with a friend who has had some health problems who told me that he, indeed, had actually seen an angel and when questioned he was able to even give details about the visit, the setting, the image and the duration. He was absolutely sure of this visit. I asked if he thought he might have been delusional, but he adamantly resisted that line of thinking. He had an encounter and it was real.
While I have never had such an encounter, I do believe that there are Guardian Angels. I occasionally drive on I-95 and have survived so It is abundantly clear to me that there are such hovering above.
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” —Hebrews 13:2
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Bill Lee, PO Box 128, Hamer, SC 29547
