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!

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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