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Follow Your Star is an ongoing collection of my observations and musings. I hope you'll get something positive from them - whether they provoke your own thoughts or you just enjoy reading them. I'd love to hear from you at spirit@giving-angels.com
Earth Angels
Occasionally in life, if we're very lucky, we encounter people who are angels to us. Jenniefer Kirk of Kirks Folly jewelry, along with her sisters and brother, Helen, Elizabeth, and George, have taken that role with me. Many moons ago, I decided to strike out on my own as a graphic designer, and they gave me the opportunity to create their newsletters. To fully appreciate that, you have to realize that they were an internationally known company, and I was a fledgling business with little to show for myself but a background in print media and an overflow of enthusiasm.
I've seen time and time again in life that one step leads to another, even when we can't quite make out the path before us. So I have absolutely no doubt that without their opening that door for me, you would not be visiting this web site today. For it was their love of angels - they've been creating beautiful angel items for over 25 years now - that fostered my fascination with angels.
I explain all of this, because Jenniefer sent me this story in an e-mail. It illustrates how we can all be an Earth Angel to somebody else, and that sometimes God will intervene to make it so. This is a true story, written by a physician at a Denver Hospice. Enjoy it and be open to your opportunities to be an Earth Angel!
I just had one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and wanted to share it with my family and dearest friends.
I was driving home from a meeting this evening about 5, stuck in traffic on Colorado Blvd., and the car started to choke and splutter and die - I barely managed to coast, cursing, into a gas station, glad only that I would not be blocking traffic and would have a somewhat warm spot to wait for the tow truck. It wouldn't even turn over. Before I could make the call, I saw a woman walking out of the "quickie mart" building, and it looked like she slipped on some ice and fell into a gas pump, so I got out to see if she was okay.
When I got there, it looked more like she had been overcome by sobs than that she had fallen; she was a young woman who looked really haggard with dark circles under her eyes. She dropped something as I helped her up, and I picked it up to give it to her. It was a nickel.
At that moment, everything came into focus for me: the crying woman, the ancient Suburban crammed full of stuff with three kids in the back (one in a car seat), and the gas pump reading $4.95.
I asked her if she was okay and if she needed help, and she just kept saying "I don't want my kids to see me crying," so we stood on the other side of the pump from her car. She said she was driving to California and that things were very hard for her right now. So I asked, "And you were praying?" That made her back away from me a little, but I assured her I was not a crazy person and said, "He heard you, and He sent me."
I took out my card and swiped it through the card reader on the pump so she could fill up her car completely, and while it was fueling, walked to the McDonald's next door and bought two big bags of food, some gift certificates for more, and a big cup of coffee. She gave the food to the kids in the car, who attacked it like wolves, and we stood by the pump eating fries and talking a little.
She told me her name, and that she lived in Kansas City. Her boyfriend left two months ago and she had not been able to make ends meet. She knew she wouldn't have money to pay rent January 1st, and finally in desperation, had called her parents, with whom she had not spoken in about five years. They lived in California and said she could come live with them and try to get on her feet there. So she packed up everything she owned in the car. She told the kids they were going to California for Christmas, but not that they were going to live there.
I gave her my gloves, a little hug and said a quick prayer with her for safety on the road. As I was walking over to my car, she said, "So, are you like an angel or something?"
This definitely made me cry. I said, "Sweetie, at this time of year angels are really busy, so sometimes God uses regular people."
It was so incredible to be a part of someone else's miracle. And of course, you guessed it, when I got in my car it started right away and got me home with no problem. I'll put it in the shop tomorrow to check, but I suspect the mechanic won't find anything wrong.
Sometimes the angels fly close enough that you can hear the flutter of their wings.
© 2007 Giving Angels, www.giving-angels.com
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