Angelic Encounters

That Was My Angel

 A few years ago, when the kids were still young, A
friend of mine, Wanda, my two children, and I
were taking a weekend trip to see my family.  
I was driving our big Ford LTD, and we were
traveling down a highway which goes right
through the middle of a small town and
then takes an abrupt left turn in front of the
courthouse.  This turn also has a large "dip" in the
road, which I did not slow down for.  As soon as we
hit the "dip", fire shot out from underneath the hood
of my car.  I quickly stopped the car on the side of
the street in front of the courthouse, and we all
scrambled out of the car.  There was a gas station
directly across the street from the courthouse, and we
all ran over to it together.  This was an ordinary gas
station, with gas pumps, tires, and supplies.  The
service (garage) doors were opened, and there was a
car up on the rack with the gas station attendent
under it.  There was a heavy-set man, who was obviously
the owner of the car being worked on, standing next to
the car.  When the four of us ran into the stall, the
gas station attendent came out from under the car he
was fixing to find out what all the fuss was about. 
 I said,"My car is on fire!"
 He quickly wiped grease from his hands and followed
us across the street.  
 The fire had gone out by now, and when he opened the
hood, a small amount of smoke was coming from the
battery. After a moment of inspection, the attendent said,
"Here is your problem.  The clamp that holds the
battery in place has snapped, and the battery must
have been knocked out of place and it made contact
with the metel inside the hood, and that caused the
battery to ignite.  You will need a new battery."
 I knew that I didn't have any money, so I said, "Why
don't you just clean the battery off, and then fill it
up with fresh water, and give me a jump with some
jumper cables. I am sure it will work."
  The attendent laughed and shook his head, "Lady," he
said, "This battery has had it; there is no way that
it will start."
 "But," I answered, "We won't know til we try it.  I am
sure that it will work.  My son and I will find a brick
or something to keep it in place, and then you can
bring your truck over here and give her a jump.  Come
on, please try." 
 A few more pleasant words were exchanged, and the
attendent did clean the battery off, he did fill each
receptacle with water, and he did hook his truck up to
it with jumper cables.  As we were positioning the
brick that my son Jake and I had found against 
the battery with the melted case cover and 
the metal rim of the carinterior, the attendent 
observed, "You're a Christian, aren't you?"   
 Surprised, I answered, "Why, yes, I am, but how did
you know?"
 He said, "Well, most folks would be fussin' and cussin'
by now, but you have a real nice attitude."
 "Thank you," was my reply. "And you?" I asked. "Where
do you go to church?"
 He stopped working on the car for a minute and turned
around.  He pointed down the road to a little white
clapboard building.  "Down there," he said, "That's
were I stay."
 ---Even at the time, I thought this was an odd way to
say where you went to church---
  I don't remember anymore specifically what we spoke
about; I was too busy praying for my car to start.  I
will never forget looking at him through the
windshield of my car and his truck.  I breathed a
prayer, took a deep breath, and turned the key.  IT
STARTED! 
 "Praise the Lord!" I said, jumped out, thanked him. 
 No charge...even better! (I would have had to borrow
from Wanda.)  So we all got back in the car, and
finished our trip.
  When we got there, I told my folks about the
battery; my dad went and bought me a new one and put
it in, even though my old burned-up one was working.
  This happened on a Friday afternoon.  Sunday
afternoon, we headed back home.  I had
cashed a check, so I had some money.  I had already 
made plans to stop back at that gas station and give 
the attendant $20.00 for his trouble
and work.  So we pulled into town around 3:00 pm, and
drove straight to the gas station where we had been
just two days before....But there was
something weird going on.  The gas station was
still there, or I should say, the gas station "shell"
was still there, but there was NO operating gas
station.  There were no gas tanks out front, no tires,
no supplies.  The place was closed tight, and looked
like it had not been occupied in some time.  We looked
up and down the street to make sure we were at the
right place.  We couldn't believe that they had closed
the station this quickly over a two-day period.  I
pulled off the lot, and drove down another block. 
There was another station; I pulled in, and a man came
out to help me.  I asked him how long the station down
the street had been out of business.  He thought for a
minute and said, "Oh, I don't know, about a year I
guess."
 You could have knocked me over. "No, no, I mean the
gas station that is right across the street from the
courthouse."
 "Yes," he said with a puzzled look on his face, "yes,
that station has been closed for some time.  Why?"
 "Well," I began, "We were just there this past
Friday, and this guy helped me with my car.  He was
short and had black greasy hair, and oh, I don't know,
a nice smile..."
 The man looked at me kind of funny and said, "Lady,
you must be mistaken, there hasn't been any business
there in I can't tell you how long."
 Then I said, "Oh, I know.  He said he goes to that little
Pentecostal Church right down there." I leaned out my
car window and pointed way down the street.
 His next comeback really surprised me.  He said,
"That is where I go to church, and there is no one
that goes to church there that looks like that."
 Wanda and I slowly looked at each other.  I thanked
him, and pulled out of the station.  We drove to the
"closed" station one more time.
 "OH my Goodness," I finally managed, "that was my
angel!"  There was not much talk on the way home.  
But I remembered the scripture that says: Don't be
surprised when you entertain angels unaware.  They are
ministering servants sent to minister to the saints.
I will never forget his smile. I can't wait to get to
Heaven and ask him why he kept it a secret!

--Vikki Kreulen


Veil Of Skin

My mother-in-law passed away last year. 
The family always said she'd been born with a veil of 
skin over her face, which was believed to be sign of
 clairvoyance.  She was a bit eccentric, quiet, and of
 nervous temperament. She had lead a hard life. 
I don't know that I ever believed
she really had any "powers", but I do remember a 
time when she made a huge impact in my life, maybe 
because of some supernatural ability. It was early on 
in my marriage, and I had my little boy, Ricky, 
a toddler, on the couch. My mother-in-law called 
me and told me to pick him up off
the couch immediately for fear that something 
bad would happen. I don't know how she knew he was on 
the couch at the time, but at her urging,
and partly out of wonder, too, I did pick him 
up and settle him somewhere else. Only a few minutes 
passed before a big shelf, which had
been hanging above the couch, suddenly came 
off the wall and came crashing down onto the place 
where my son had been sitting. Had my son been there as he
 was only moments before, had my mother-in-law never
called, my little boy would have been seriously injured 
or perhaps killed.  There were several other 
times after that when my mother-in-law
seemed to have an exceptional intuition - she was able 
to help me find things that I had lost, or she would 
have "dreams" that she believed came to pass. 
It's possible that each of us has the same sort of
intuition, but can't tap into it as easily...or maybe 
there's something to that old wives' tale about 
the "veil of skin" over a newborn's face signifying 
prophetic abilities.  Either way, my mother-in-law was
definitely connected to something spiritual which
 helped her save my baby.  
I will always remember her for that.

--Joyce Payne

Invited


  A woman came out of her house and saw 3 old men with
 long white beards sitting in her front yard. 
She did not recognize them.  She said "I don't
  think I know you, but you must be hungry. 
Please come in and have something to eat."
  
  "Is the man of the house home?", they asked.  
"No," she said. "He's out."
 
  "Then we cannot come in," they replied.
  
   In the evening when her husband came home, 
she told him what had happened.
   "Go tell them I am home and invite them in!"
  
   The woman went out and invited the men in.  
"We do not go into a House  together," they replied.  
"Why is that?" she wanted to know.   One
of the old men explained: "His name is Wealth," 
he said pointing to one  of his friends, 
and said pointing to another one, "He is
Success, and I am Love." Then he added, 
"Now go in and discuss with your husband
which one of us you want in your home."
  
  The woman went in and told her husband what was said. 
Her husband was overjoyed. 
"How nice!!," he said. "Since that is the case, let us
invite  Wealth. Let him come and fill our 
home with wealth!"
  
  His wife disagreed. 
"My dear, why don't we invite Success?"
 
   Their daughter-in-law was listening from the other corner of
 the house She jumped in with her own suggestion: 
"Would it not be better to invite Love?
  Our home will then be filled with love!"
  
  "Let us heed our daughter-in-law's advice," 
said the husband to
his wife.
 "Go out and invite Love to be our guest."
 
  The woman went out and asked the 3 old men,
 "Which one of you is Love?
  Please come in and be our guest."
  
  Love got up and started walking toward the house.
 The other 2 also got up and followed him. Surprised,
 the lady asked Wealth and Success: "I only invited 
Love, Why are you coming in?"
  
  The old men replied together: "If you had invited 
Wealth or Sucess,  the other two of us would've stayed
 out, but since you invited Love, wherever He goes, 
we go with him. Wherever there is Love, 
there is also Wealth and Success!!!!!!"
  -Author Unknown