Entertaining Angels

     It was in the first year of my newfound salvation that I found myself driving north from San Diego in my Volkswagen Bug to visit my then girlfriend Betsy. Betsy was working at a resort high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains just south of Mammoth in a place called "Rock Creek Lakes Resort."  I came equipped that day with a ring and with high hopes that I could get Betsy to says yes to my intended proposal.  After several days of hiking and enjoying the beauty of "Little Lakes Valley", 9000 ft high in the Sierras, a gathered the courage to pop the question.  Although I did not receive an immediate “yes”, I was able to wrestle out of her enough of a positive response to my question that I could drive back to San Diego confident that we were actually engaged. 

       Driving back down that mountain with more excitement and anticipation for life than any nineteen-year-old deserves, I was anxious to share my newest “good news” with someone.  I thanked the Lord for the life that I could see unfolding before me with Betsy, then asked very directly if He would provide someone I could share my good news with.  Soon after, when I had turned out of the mountain valley and onto Hwy 395, I saw a man hitchhiking on the side of the road.  When I pulled over and pushed open the door, he jumped in with a degree of excitement that at least equaled my own. We were soon in animated conversation, which morphed from the excitement of my engagement into a vibrant discussion regarding God’s goodness in our lives.  For the next four hours, we spoke of nothing but Jesus and His love.  Our shared understanding of His love made us instant brothers, and I can think of few conversations in my life that have experienced that depth of communion, especially in lite of our short acquaintance.

     We were somewhere out in the middle of the Mojave Desert, still north of San Bernardino, when my faith filled hitchhiking companion asked me to pull over.  Out of nowhere he said “that’s my brother right there, can you please pull over”.  We were in what you would call “the middle of nowhere”.  The road was divided here by a large flat strip of desert, and there was not a bush, tree, building, or any sort of visual impairment within miles.   A small barbed wire fence running some thirty feet from the side of the highway was the only upright structure.  As I pulled over to let him out, my friend put his hand on my hand, which was upon the stick shift. He then looked me squarely in the eye and said with a soberness and sincerity that seemed so contrary to our hours of animated conversation, “God bless you brother”. Looking back, I beleive he was speaking a blessing into my life.

He then opened his door and stepped out onto the barren California desert, quickly dissappearing around the back of my car. Expecting to see a car stopping to pick hiim up, I looked to both sides, behind, ahead, everywhere, searching for this brother. There was not a car in sight. No vehicle had stopped; there were not even any cars passing at the time. Full of curiosity, I got out of my bug and walked around it.  Noone had stopped, and my friend was nowhere in sight. He had simply disappeared.

     I know today what I eventually figured out after that day in the Mojave Desert. I was traveling with an angel. The quick answer to prayer, the fellowship, the selfless joy and earnestness of my passenger, then his sincere goodbye and mysterious disappearance, all pointed to what was to be the first of numerous encounters with angels in the following years.

     The author of the book of Hebrews declares that in this life “some have entertained angles without even knowing it”. We read of those early believers in our Bible having these kinds of experiences, and the Word of God tells us that we who follow in that same faith should also expect to “entertain angels”. The author of Hebrews describes angels as “ministering spirits sent to serve those who inherit salvation”.  If you are one of those who have inherited salvation through faith in Jesus, you should not be surprised that you too might “entertain angels” in this life.