angels

Heavenly Bodyguards

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For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 
Psalm 91:11 KJV

In the early 1980’s I spent a couple of Summers as part of the tree crew on the Estate of Brooke Astor. Now, I wasn’t assigned the job of working there for my great talents as an arborist, but because the other guys hated working at Holly Hill (By switching a couple of letters, they had another name for the place). I discovered that remaining on the job at the Astor Estate called for a certain level of patience with the fussiness of the head grounds keeper, a quirky Scotsman who ruled his large crew like a horticultural dictator. But I loved working there because of the guests, such as the Friday we were asked to manicure the gardens with extra care, and on Monday morning finding out that President Reagan and his wife Nancy had popped in for the weekend! Another day, the special visitor was Pérez de Cuéllar, who at the time was serving as the Secretary General of the United Nations. I have no idea what he and Mrs. Astor talked about that day, but their conversations led them down the garden path that meandered between the giant hollies, that her property was famous for. And coming right behind Señor de Cuéllar and Mrs. Astor as they ambled down the path were two hugely muscular bodyguards with machine guns strapped over the backs!

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After forty years, the image of those big guards watching out for their small and vulnerable charges still sticks in my mind and reminds me of the guards that God has set over us. The angels that the Bible says God has given charge over us, are definitely not the winged effeminate types depicted in some of the old paintings. These angels are big, they are powerful and when provoked have been known to wipe out entire armies which threaten their people. And today, when the news seems bent on bringing new things to be terrified about, it is more important than ever to trust that God is still in control. He hasn’t gone on break, left for vacation or decided to let us fend for ourselves. If we simply commit our way to Him, He has promised to not only direct our steps, but to assign heavenly bodyguards to watch us and to keep us as we walk down whatever garden path lies ahead for you today!

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Two Tires on the Stairs

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The angel of the Lord encamps
    around those who fear him, and delivers them. Psalm 37:4 ESV

You need to know that I have never seen an angel, but I believe in them. Yet the entire concept of angels seems pretty strange to me. Why would an all powerful God who can command light into existence and who holds every atom in the universe together by the power of His word, want to use angels to do stuff? And yet, the Bible tells us that, God chooses to employ angels to take care of us.

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When our kids were still in diapers and credit cards were only issued to folks who didn’t need them we struggled financially. Though we had enough to pay for our groceries, rent and the electric bill, by the end of the month, there was nothing left over. Each morning as I got the car, glanced at the front tires, which were daily growing balder, I breathed another prayer and put the key in the ignition. Every afternoon when I pulled back up into our parking spot, I racked my brain trying to figure how we could squeeze a few dollars together, then put it out of my mind, picked up my lunch box and trudged back up the stairs to our apartment.

Though we didn’t have much mullah, we did have plenty of friends. One of those was a confirmed bachelor named Bob and my wife insisted that we invite him over for dinner at least once a week. She worried that otherwise he would never eat a decent meal. Bob became like an uncle to our boys and they loved nothing better than running full speed and jumping onto his lap unexpectedly, then laughing hysterically as he let out a loud groan. Regularly, Bob would remind me about those tires, and regularly I would tell him that we would get to it next month. But whether it was an unexpected doctor’s visit or a new pair of shoes for our growing boys, it seemed “next month” never came.

All the time I worried about those bald tires I never once thought about praying for new ones. Not that I doubted God, but it simply never occurred to me to trouble the almighty with mundane issues like tread wear. He probably had important stuff to do like taking care of orphans in Africa or rescuing beggars in India. But one day I discovered that God isn’t too busy to notice even the tiniest problem we face while He is taking care of folks with bigger issues. He sends angels to camp out around us, to help in every struggle we face.

It was a Sunday morning and just as always we scrubbed up the boys and squeezed them into their church clothes then headed off for the 11 AM service. I put my worry about the tires into the back of my mind convinced I could only pray about life threatening issues. Yes I know I should have prayed but I am glad that our Father in Heaven doesn’t always do things according to formula. I have no idea what our pastor preached that morning, but engraved forever in my mind was the miracle of two brand new tires sitting at the top of our stairs on our return. Yes our angel that day actually was named Bob, but I’m pretty sure that he was enlisted into the service of the ones with wings. What was best of all was the astonishingly wonderful discovery that God knew and cared and sent angels to take care of every detail like stubbing our toe or getting a flat. God wanted me to know that whether He was washing my dirty feet, leaving tires on our stairs or dying on the cross for my sins, that He loves us all completely, in every detail and forever!

Two Tires On the Stairs by Peter Caligiuri copyright 2021 Use by permission only, all rights reserved.

Desert Temptations

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Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Matthew 4:1

The great temptation that we face is to seek help and hope and honor from men instead of being satisfied with what God Alone provides.

A desert is an empty and dry place where little survives and what grows there is gnarled or covered with thorns. But the Spirit led Jesus there and He will certainly give to us seasons to be there also. It is not a place we would have chosen but it is necessary, because there we learn to depend on daily bread baked in our quiet time with Him, rather than the seemingly spectacular loaves that the world’s advertisers insist we must buy.

There on the rocky paths He sends His angels to guard us along a plain pathway. That protection covers us as we brave necessary dangers of obedience not the thrill of showing off our freedoms and rights for everyone to see.

He doesn’t require us to gain worldly fame instead He simply gives us fruitfulness as we obey His command to love those around us.

If we want to find God’s joy and peace and love then we need to look for them where Jesus did. Only there, out in the wilderness can God faithfully show us His way. In that place Jesus was satisfied that the Father was completely pleased when He trusted in His word. If Jesus had to live in humble surrender rather than by insisting on His rights then how much more should we?