Have you ever seen an angel?  I actually may have during several remarkable occurrences in my life, though I can’t say definitively. 

Have you ever seen an angel’s work?  I’m much more confident in saying “absolutely!” to that scenario.  The last time actually happened just a few days ago on our dock.

My wife and I knew that living on a lake would provide a wealth of entertainment opportunities in the spring through the fall.  Little did we realize that it pays out fun times even in the winter!

Especially for our grandchildren. 

On their post-Christmas visit, the grandsons found great pleasure in breaking the ice around the dock.  Recent warmer temps had weakened the surface ice and made it soft enough to smash through, but still thick enough to force one to work hard to do so.

This, of course, presented a delightful challenge!  With great delight, the boys did whatever damage they could do with lighter tools (plastic handles and wooden sticks).  However, they were ecstatic when adults took my sledge-hammer to it!

All this ice-breaking left at least 2 feet of unfrozen water all around the dock.  Rather thick ice remained outside the reach of the sledge.

The last morning the grandchildren were here, my oldest grandson – the cautious, careful one! – was trying to chip away at the ice perimeter.  And he slipped and pitched forward off the dock!

Here’s where things got strange.

He was leaning forward to reach the ice when he fell.  The laws of nature would dictate that he toppled headfirst off the dock … either unintentionally diving directly into the water, or worse, headfirst onto the edge of the ice.  If he was able to maintain a semblance of balance, perhaps he could go feet first into the water, or perhaps crash somewhat upright onto the edge of the ice, or … best case scenario … flop on his belly on the surface of the ice with perhaps just his feet going into the frigid water.

But he landed on the ice surface … on his bottom! … 3-4 feet from the dock! 

He immediately stood up and called out to his uncle, who reached over and lifted him to the dock.  A successful rescue and no harm done.  It seemed my 7 ½ year old grandson largely dismissed the incident; he went back to breaking ice completely unperturbed.

But the adults realized something rather incredible had just occurred.

The young man’s uncle who was on the dock with him … AND his mother and grandmother who just happened to be watching from the bay windows in the house … thought he had jumped!  (This boy would never have deliberately leaped!  It is not in his nature.)  But that’s how he appeared as he flew through the air onto the surface of the ice – like he had jumped.

This grandson is also honest to a fault.  When asked what happened, he said he slipped.  And he wouldn’t lie about something like that.  Or if he tried, it would be obvious to all that he was bending the truth.

How then did he go from leaning over the water, his weight distributed forward, and his feet slipping out from under him … to looking like he leaped and subsequently landing on his bottom 3 feet away? 

When asked if he felt anything as it was happening, he replied that he felt like he was pushed!

It was a fortuitous “push.”  It’s chilling to consider what might have happened had he not been “pushed” after he slipped.  Head injury from hitting the ice?  Broken bones?  Landing in the freezing water, the bitter cold making him gasp and swallow water?  His forward momentum possibly taking him under the ice?  Maybe even several of the above!

His uncle would have gotten to him quickly, wherever he might have ended up or what he might have suffered.  But things could have been much more traumatic. 

Yet they weren’t.

I’m sure some would argue that my grandson’s reflexes kicked in, adrenalin causing him to somehow leap at the last second, or that he simply took a fortunate fall.  But anyone who was present that day can find no other explanation than that there was some angelic intervention that morning. 

What an amazing experience – to be lovingly, gently pushed by an angel to a safe landing!  Perhaps at an older age, my grandson will better appreciate how the Lord miraculously protected him that day.

The rest of us are already in awe.  We never doubted it, but now we know that there are angels among us.

What marvelous creatures the angels are!  And how comforting it is to know they are near!  But as marvelous as they are, they are just another one of God’s incredible creations, created to serve God and God’s people.  They are yet another way our Lord demonstrates his providence and protection to you and me.  And if the angels are so awesome, how awesome must our God be?

For another personal example of God’s incredible intervention on this blog, check out this post: “Dead Man Walking”

For more posts on the angels, you might find these stories interesting: “An Invisible Reality”  and  “Before They Call”.

Best of all, read the Bible passages below that give us insight into those magnificent beings and how the Lord uses them to protect you and me.

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Hebrews 1:14
Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

Psalm 103:20
Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.

Psalm 91:9-12, 14-15
If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent.  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. …

“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.