SOMETIMES IT’S NOT THAT EASY BEING AN ANGEL

Here’s a story I read that happened during my teenage years, and one I participated in and is still relevant for today. A pastor and his eleven-year-old son would go out every Sunday afternoon, after the morning service at their church, into various neighborhoods and hand-out Gospel Tracts.

On one particular Sunday afternoon after dinner, it came time for the Pastor and his son to go. But it was very cold outside as well as pouring down rain. The boy bundled up in his warmest and driest clothes and said, “OK, Dad, I’m ready.” His dad asked, “Ready for what?” “Dad, it’s time to go pass out some tracts.” His dad responded, “Son, it’s very cold outside, and it’s pouring down rain.” The boy gives his dad a surprised look, asking, “But Dad, aren’t still people who need to hear the Gospel even though it’s raining?”

Son, the Pastor, said with some consternation, I am not going out in this kind of weather.” His son’s head dropped for a moment, then he said, “Dad, can I go, Please? “His father hesitated for a moment (thinking that once his son went out in the cold rain, he’d back very soon) then said, “Son, you can go, but only in our neighborhood. As he handed his son some tracts, he told him, be careful, son.” With a smile on his face, the boy said, “Thanks, Dad!!! “And with that, he was off and out into the rain.

The boy walked the empty streets going from door to door looking for anyone he met to give them one of his Gospel Tracts. After two hours of walking in the rain, he was soaking bone chilled wet and down to his very last tract. He stopped on a corner and looked for someone to hand a tract to, but the streets were totally deserted. Then, as he turned to go home, he stopped at one more home. Going up the sidewalk to the front door, he rang the doorbell. No one came to open the door. So, he rang the bell again, but nobody answered. He rang it again and again, but still, no one came. He waited a few more minutes, but still, there was no answer. Finally, this eleven-year-old trooper turned to leave.

But something stopped him. He whirled around and rang the bell and knocked loudly on the door with his fist. He waited, something seemed to be holding him there on the front porch. He rang one more time, and the door slowly opened. Standing in the doorway was a very sad-looking elderly lady. She softly asked, “What can I do for you, son?”

With radiant eyes and a smile that lit up her world, this little boy said, “Ma’am, I’m sorry if I disturbed you, but I just want to tell you that Jesus really does love you, and I came to give you my very last Gospel tract which will tell you all about JESUS and His great love.” With that, he handed her his last tract and turned to leave. She called out to him as he departed, “Thank you, son! And God Bless You!”

The following Sunday morning in church, Pastor Dad was in the Pulpit, and as the service began, he suddenly felt led to ask, “Does anyone have a testimony or want to say anything?” Slowly, in the back row of the Church, an elderly lady stood to her feet. As she began to speak, a look of glorious radiance came from her face as she said, “None of you in this church know me. I’ve never been here before. You see, before last Sunday, I was not a Christian. My husband passed-on, some time ago, leaving me totally alone in this world.

But last Sunday afternoon, was an unusually cold and rainy day, it was even more so in my heart as I came to the point where I no longer had any hope or will to live. So, I took a rope and a chair and ascended the stairway into the attic of my home. I fastened the rope securely to a rafter in the roof, then stood on the chair and fastened the other end of the rope around my neck.

Standing on that chair, so lonely and brokenhearted, I was about to leap off when suddenly the loud ringing of my doorbell downstairs startled me. I thought I’ll wait a minute, and whoever it is will go away.’ I waited and waited. But the ringing doorbell seemed to get louder and more insistent, and then the person ringing also started knocking loudly.

I thought to myself again, “Who on earth could this be?! Nobody ever rings my bell or comes to see me anymore.” I loosened the rope from my neck and started down the stairs for the front door, all the while the bell rang louder and louder. When I opened the door and looked, I could hardly believe my eyes, for there on my front porch was the most radiant and angelic little boy I never saw before in my life.

His smile, Oh, I could never describe it to you!!! And the Words that came from his mouth caused my heart, that had long been dead, to leap to life as he exclaimed with a cherub-like voice, “Ma’am, I just came to tell you that Jesus really does love you.” then he gave me this Gospel Tract that I now hold in my hand. As I saw this angel disappeared back out, into the cold and rain, I closed my door and read slowly every word of this Gospel Tract. Then I went up to my attic to get my rope and chair. I wouldn’t need them anymore.

You see, I am now a happy child of the King, and since the address of your Church was on the back of this Gospel Tract, I have come here to personally say Thank You to God’s little angel, who came just in the nick of time, sparing my soul from an eternity in hell.

As she sat down, there were no dry eyes in the church. And as shouts of praise, and honor to the King, resounded off the very rafters of the building, the Pastor and Dad descended from the pulpit to the front pew where his son was seated. He took this little angel in his arms and sobbed uncontrollably.

Probably no church has had a more glorious moment. And no Dad was more filled with love & honor for his son—except for one—this Father also allowed His Son to go out into a Cold & Dark World. He received His Son back with Joy unspeakable, and as all of heaven shouted praises and honor to the King. His son was no angel, He was more, He was the Son of God. We don’t see people handing out tracts that much anymore, but sharing the Gospel with strangers is still going on – in airports, taxis, restaurants, at work, on the internet, etc.

So, if the Holy Spirit suddenly moves you to call someone, don’t brush it off, don’t even delay, you are on God’s timetable, not your own. Listen to what our Lord and Savior Jesus said: “This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14). And He also declared: “If anyone is ashamed of Me and My message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when He returns in His glory and in the beauty of the Father and the holy angels. (Luke 9:26). And when all the books are opened, there may be someone’s testimony read of how you became an angel to deliver God’s message of love and salvation. Then perhaps God will take you up in His arms and weep for joy because of your dedication and faithfulness. – Dr. Robert R Seyda