Are You a Guardian Angel?

Philippians 2:13 (NIV)

For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Bill Korducki of Burlington, Wisconsin is convinced that from time to time God uses us, instead of angels, to keep one another from harm. It's happened to him. Some years ago, Bill was paying for his college tuition and books by working at a local department store. One day he was sent across town to another mall to fill in for a person on his day off.

"The mall across town was much larger than the place where I usually worked," Bill recalls. "It had two floors, and a big open area in the middle with a railing and benches all around overlooking the galleria below." After completing the morning shift Bill went to a restaurant in the mall for lunch. As he made his way back towards his store, he noticed a little girl, her mother and grandmother on a bench set against the railing overlooking the galleria.

"The mother and grandmother were engaged in an intense discussion, completely focused on each another," Bill says. "As I continued in their direction, I noticed that the little girl, perhaps three years of age, was trying to climb over the railing. She had succeeded in swinging her left leg over the railing and was trying to shift her weight and push off the bench with her right leg. Neither of the women noticed her."

Bill was stunned. Of course he was hesitant to grab someone else's child. He had learned in the retail business that it's important to be gentle with children, no matter what they're doing. And it was important not to offend the parents too. But this child was going to topple over in a moment, and if he shouted. Bill quickened his pace, reached the girl, and gently pulled her off the railing. "You shouldn't be climbing on the railing like that," he told her, just loud enough for the adults to hear. "You could fall and get hurt. That would upset your mother very much."

Suddenly Bill had the mother and grandmother's full attention. They were very embarrassed as he handed the child back to them. "Her guardian angel sent me," he told them, brushing off their thanks, and hurried on to his department. ("After all, I was paid on commission and I needed all the sales I could get to pay for college!") He was starting to realize that he might have saved the little girl's life. A 50-foot fall into the galleria could have certainly injured her seriously, if it didn't kill her.

Awhile later, the store was abuzz with another wild customer tale---there were always a few to share. A clerk from another department came to Bill, laughing. "Have you heard?" she asked. "An old lady and her daughter went to Security, claiming an angel saved her granddaughter from a fall, and when she looked up after he handed the little girl to her, he disappeared!"

Bill wondered what to do. Apparently, he was the only one who knew the truth, yet how could he stop a false story from spreading? But later, as he was stationed near the store exit, he saw the women and the little girl walking through his department! He called to them. They were astounded, and rushed over to him.

"I'm not an angel," Bill assured them. "But your granddaughter's guardian angel had me at that place at that time to do what I did. Just remember to continue to pray. It does work." The women thanked Bill again, said goodnight and left the store with a bewildered look on their faces. "As for me," says Bill, "I thanked God for giving me the chance to do an angel's work."

Being an earth angel doesn't always involve something major, such as saving a life. Sometimes we're just needed to hold a hand, whisper a word of comfort or even provide food or drink. As one writer put it, "If people were more like angels, earth would be more like heaven." Will you let God use you today to do His work.

Dear Lord, we pray that when the opportunities come our way to help someone we would do our part. Help us not turn away and do nothing. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Guardian Angel

Psalm 91:11 (NASB)

For He will give His angels charge concerning you,

To guard you in all your ways.

It was May, 1995, and 44-year-old Denise lay in the recovery room at Yale University Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut. She had been very ill with throat cancer for over a year. Radiation hadn't worked, and surgery had been her only option. Now her voicebox and lymph nodes had been removed, to halt the disease's progress. But her chance for life seemed even less than the doctor had anticipated. Now, as Denise slowly awakened, many people in white coats surrounded her. They seemed grim, and Denise was seized with a sudden terror. What was wrong? She looked up and noticed one very young doctor. He was looking down at her, his expression kind, and he seemed to glow. She must be dreaming...

When Denise got back to her room, her worried brother Ron was waiting. Although she could no longer speak, she gestured to Ron. "I wanted to see what they had cut and what they had done to me. Ron hesitated but handed me my compact." Denise gasped. Her head looked at least three times its normal size. Her throat had been cut past both ears and she couldn't raise her head. She began to sob. Ron ran for a doctor.

Instead, the young man Denise had seen in the recovery room came in. "It's all right," he told her soothingly. "Your head won't stay like this. The scar is bad, yes, but you're alive, and you're going to get better." He picked up her hand and held it. Peace seemed to flow through Denise. She fell asleep.

The next time Denise awakened, it was four a.m. When she rang for a nurse, the same doctor came in! He was smiling, and he spoke so softly she could barely hear him. "You're going to be all right. I want you to know that. I'm here. I'll never leave you," he said, leaning over her. This time Denise was awake enough to study him. His features seemed flawless. His hair was short and blond, cut in an old fashioned way with longish bangs and parted on the left. He had bright blue/green eyes. His hand was warm, soft, and strong. Again, Denise fell asleep with him telling her she would be fine. From that point on, every day at 4 a.m. she would wake up and he would be there, holding her hand and talking softly.

"The next time Ron came in to see me, I wrote to him on my tablet about this doctor," Denise says. "I wanted Ron to find out his name. I wanted to thank him for being so kind to stay with me when I was too afraid to be alone. I suggested Ron check the interns because I thought he must be an intern. What doctor would have this much time to spend with just one patient?"

Ron went out to talk to the nurses, but when he returned, he looked at her strangely. "You must have been dreaming," he said.

"NO!" Denise scribbled on the pad.

"He doesn't exist, Dee, I asked all the nurses. And they checked. No one has seen anyone like him. No one knows him, either"

Denise knew better than to argue with Ron. It was only later, when she got home, that she learned her brother had continued to look for the unknown doctor. Ron had stopped only when several nurses assured him that it wasn't at all unusual for a hospital patient to see her guardian angel.

Denise recovered from cancer, and she knows she suffered less because God allowed her angel to be very visible to her. "Maybe someday," she says, "I can tell him face to face once again, Thank you so much."

Dear Lord we thank You for those You send our way to take care of us and encourage us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.