Angels

We hear a lot about angels this time of year -- especially those in the sky singing to the shepherds in Bethlehem. The first movie I watched in grade school was, The Littlest Angel. Then there is the e-mail inbox that has at least one message citing a story about an "angel" that gave a gift to someone in need. So I have been thinking lately about those people who stepped into my life to show unexpected acts of kindness. I don't think they were angels, but I do believe they gave of themselves in a way that impacted my life. For example . . .

One Christmas Eve we were traveling to Grandma's house -- a 300-mile trek. We started after the Christmas Eve service in hopes of arriving before 1 a.m. Our six-month-old baby was sleeping soundly as we left the interstate to travel across country on two-lane highways and through little towns. Around midnight it happened -- a flat tire. We pulled over in front of a closed store, and I began unloading the car to get at the spare tire. The wind picked up and the temperature hovered at the zero-degree mark, as I laid all of our possessions out on the parking lot. When I pulled out the spare, it was flat. We were stuck in a little town, up against the bitter cold, with no help in sight.

Just then a police car pulled behind us. He checked out the situation, woke up a friend who owned a service station, and put us in his warm car to wait. The friend soon pulled up in his truck, took the flat tire and the spare to his station, fixed them, replaced them on our car, and loaded our stuff -- all with no charge -- just a "Merry Christmas!"

I tried to remember his name and the name of his service station, so I could thank him when we returned that way. When we pulled into town, I stopped at what I thought was his station, only to be told it wasn't. No one had heard of him -- or his station; it must have been a different town.

I remember that event vividly. I know my tire was flat. I have pulled into the store's parking lot numerous times; it is a real place. I have yet to figure out the man who fixed our tire, but he has influenced my life. For after that event I have helped others stranded by the side of the road, giving them a ride to the nearest service station, staying with their family, helping change a tire, even giving a donation or two of money. I am not an angel. The man who helped me was not an angel, yet we might have been perceived as such. I do not know. I do know that acts of Christian charity are good things to do -- not just at Christmas, but all year around. I do know Hebrews 13:2.