With you...here, there and everywhere

I was talking with a friend and she narrated how she was touched by an angel several days ago. She was about to cross the street to get a ride at the other side. She was in a hurry, as she wanted to get to her destination in time, so as not to be late for her breakfast meeting.

She was too concerned with the time that she seem to have suddenly forgot she was crossing a busy street. She forgot that she has to be very careful as cars slow down at their own discretion as the area has no traffic light. She was already midway the street when a loud screech was heard - it was the sound of a a sudden brake.

As she turned her head to the left, she was shocked seeing a white car merely a hair strand away from her. The driver hurriedly came out of his car and looked so frightened as he asked my friend with a trembling voice, "Where is the old man beside you, I must have run over him!" My friend could not figure out what the driver was talking about because she was herself in a state of shock. When she gained her self, she replied, "I am alone all the while!"

To make the story short, she and the driver just settled to leave things as they are and she then hurried to her breakfast meeting as if nothing happened. " I could not comprehend what happened but I am humbled and grateful,to my guardian angel", she said.

Most of us, actually all of us do have encounters with angels, except that non believers do not give the credits to the angels, rather to some supernatural powers.

I have had many angel encounters throughout my life, and in several ocassions, I literally escaped death. One of the most unforgettable encounters I had happened in 1994.

It was about 8 in the morning, I was on my way to my office. The traffic was not really heavy but I was driving at a slow pace, feeling a little dizzy as I didn't have enough sleep the night before. I have been taking this same route everyday for almost a year, so I have familiarized myself with all its curves and stop lights. My familiarity gave me much confidence that I rarely glance at the rear mirror, sometimes even the side.

While I was a few blocks to the office, I didn't understand why I did not notice the concrete fence of that building on the right side of the road. It was too late for me to swerve to the left, being a two-way street, a car was coming towards my direction. If I took a swerve, it would have been a head-on collision. I slammed on the brakes but in a snap of a finger I found myself shocked and motionless behind the steering wheel, the concrete fence collapsed, the hood of my car wrecked beyond recognition.

When I finally regained my composure, a number of bystanders gathered around me, two men opened the door of the driver's seat and carefully helped me out. Everyone thought I was seriously hurt because of the damage of the car. But to their surprise and also mine, I was almost unscathed except for a few minor bruises. All I was able to utter then was "Thank you Lord!" After a while, I asked the traffic policeman to call my office so they could come to my rescue and settle what need to be settled.

I was already sitting at the office lounge taking a sip of coffee, while my startled colleagues took turns asking questions but I still could not figure out what really happened. I only knew then that I was saved by my angel, although I really did not know how an angel looks like.

Angels are not really accompanied by flowery fragrance as our parents used to tell us or as described to us by figments of imagination of books authors. Angels may not necessarily be the beautiful girls with alluring faces and with wide wings as we see in movies.

Angels take many forms when we meet them in various circumstances. They can be the beggar across the street, policeman at the outpost, a nerd classmate, an innocent newborn or a stranger you just met. Yet, although they come in different shapes, they are all here for a single purpose - to guide us as we take the journey of our lives.

That fateful incident more than strengthened my belief in angels, it made my faith in our Creator even more profound.

"The guardian angels of life sometimes fly so high as to be beyond our sight, but they are always looking down upon us." Jean Paul Richter