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The message here is, if you are inclined to fear anything, including death, wisdom demands that you fear God—not as in being terrified all you life, but recognizing His power and preferring Him above all else. Angie and her husband were fulfilling that kind of fear, call it dedication, or in this case, call it a father-son relationship. They were preferring Him above all the world could offer and worldly entertainment. And He responded as promised. “The LORD is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him sincerely. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cries for help and rescues them Here’s the story. SNOW ANGELS One snowy New Years Eve my husband and I decided to brave the cold and celebrate the New Year in church, dedicating our coming year to love, kindness, the assurance of our eternal life and to rescuing others—the joy of Heaven. For we were assured that the angels celebrate the salvation of those who before had put God out of mind. (Now that’s a celebration.) So, it was appropriate that He would dispatch his angels to rescue us that night. We of course didn’t know we were going to need rescuing. The service ended a little after midnight. But we weren’t ready to part company, so when someone suggested “barbecue,” we all agreed and settled on a restaurant in Aurora that had some of the best. It was still snowing, but we Coloradans were accustomed to snow. It just makes the streets, yards and lamps more charming in its sparkling fall and smooth covering. Besides, we were in no hurry. Good company and the promise of a lazy morning after made it relaxing. at about 2:00 AM the snow storm had intensified and we decided we’d better get started on our twenty mile drive home. Before long the snow was piling up on the highway in ruts of slush and sticking to the windshield so badly that my husband had to pull over onto a service road to clean the windshield wipers and scrape off what they couldn’t wipe. As he was worked on the windshield, I glanced out the window and saw a white figure flying over the hood of our car, but I was so tired I didn't give it much thought. When we finally came to our exit, headed down the off-ramp, and there, before us, through the falling snow we saw a terrible multi-car pile-up at the bottom of the ramp. It was too late to turn back and impossible to stop. We were going downhill, approaching the mass of wreckage with no path to plow through. I cried out, "Jesus!" Suddenly we weren’t approaching the accident. We were on the other side of it! We knew the angels must have somehow assisted us, because there was no other way possible that we could have driven through. The next morning during my devotion and prayer time, God spoke to me and told me that the angel that I had seen fly over our car had been assigned to go ahead of us and protect us from that terrible accident. The Bible declares: For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Psalms 91:11 12 My son, Christopher was headed down a steep, winding mountain road called The Lariat Trail,” and had a similar experience. He came upon a section of ice approaching a sharp turn. There was no guard rail and with no traction to brake or turn, he faced a thousand-foot drop. He shouted “Jesus,” not as an exclamation, but as a plea. His jeep slowed and turned. The only possibility was angelic assistance. The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them. Ps 145:18 19 |
