ANGELS ARE AMONG US!
Strangers in Distress
Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people
have entertained angels without knowing it.
HEBREWS 13:2
Michigan resident Helen Griffith and members of her church
group were winding down for the day the children's summer
Bible-school program. Eight or nine women and some youngsters
were standing by the room's entrance. "We were all caught up in
our activities, collecting money, picking up materials, laughing,
eating, busy-busy-busy . . ." Helen recalls.
Suddenly a pale young woman came into the building and
hesitantly approached the group standing near the door. "Excuse
me," the woman said, speaking barely above a whisper. She looked
exhausted. "Could I borrow some money from you ladies? To buy
gas?" She had to get to a town about seventy miles away, she
explained. Her frailness was evident, and Helen noticed she was
expecting a baby.
Someone in the group quickly got the young woman a chair.
Then everyone moved away to convene among themselves. Helen had
only some change with her, but she suggested that they donate
something from the school fund or take up a collection among
themselves.
But one of the women objected. "We shouldn't help these kind
of people, Helen," she said firmly. "They go from church to
church playing on people's sympathies. Well, this one isn't
getting anything from me!"
Several of the others nodded slowly, allowing themselves to
be persuaded "Why don't we send her to one of the other churches
instead?" one suggested "There's a church pantry not too far from
here, they might help."
The young woman's face fell when a spokesperson went to her
with a negative reply. She got up and walked heavily out the side
door. Immediately Helen's conscience began to bother her, so she
followed the woman outside, thinking she would give her what she
had in her purse.
"But there was no one there;" Helen relates. "No car, no
young woman ... I was only a few steps behind her, and she
certainly wasn't walking quickly, but I saw no car moving through
any of the lots or drives. She had disappeared."
To this day, Helen wonders if her church group was visited
by an angel and had failed the test of kindness. "She came, asked
quietly for assistance - and we who were so busy talking about
love and kindness and failed to act on our principles," she says.
"We were hypocrites, and how I wish we had a chance to undo the
mistake we made."
Why would an angel in human form appear in distress? Surely
celestial beings have no angry husbands, no children, no worries
at all! Maybe they become vulnerable for our sake, to offer us a
chance to reach out, to trust, and to grow in the giving.
...............
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