Angels

Last week someone asked me if I believed in angels, and I said yes.  In my lifetime I have had a few experiences where I think angels were present to help me through.  I would like to tell you about these times:
I went to college at ISU in Ames, Iowa.  One time I was on my way to campus on a borrowed bike.  I was speeding downhill on Welch Avenue when I discovered that the bike's brakes didn't work.  I was headed for Lincoln Way, a busy intersection.  Yikes.  When I got to the corner, I leaned left and made a very fast turn while crashing to the ground.  There was no harm to persons or property, and I am quite sure that angels helped make that happen.
When I left Ames, I moved to Colorado.  I lived in Ft. Collins for eight months, then moved to Northglenn.  I got a job cooking at a sorority at DU.  I didn't have a car, so I decided to take the bus to work.  It took me two hours, but I got to work on time.  When it was time to go home, I took the bus to the middle of downtown, where I had to transfer to another bus.  I was sitting at a bus stop in the middle of the block, and there was a bar on each corner.  A guy walked up to me and started talking to me, and then a white-haired man joined us and said to me, "Is this man bothering you?"  And he started telling the other guy that alcohol is from diablo (Spanish for devil).  He gave me a Decision magazine, then my bus came and I left.  I think the white-haired man may have been an angel, but even if he wasn't, he was surely God's representative in that situation, and I was grateful that he had shown up. After that day, I carpooled to work with my roommate, and eventually I bought my own car.
My third experience with angelic intervention is from a few years ago.  I was driving with four of my children back to Colorado from Iowa, in the winter. My husband was in Missouri with my oldest daughter. They had gone to a church conference while the rest of us visited relatives.  We were on Interstate 80 in Nebraska, and there was freezing rain.  It was evening, and in the dark I could see ice on the fences along the road.  But the interstate didn't seem slippery, and I was able to go about 50 mph while passing a lot of semis that were going much slower.  I think it was Kearney, NE, where we decided to stop for some supper.  When I got to a stop light, it was evident that the street was pretty icy.  We pulled into a Subway parking lot, and at that point I became utterly unable to control my mini van.  The parking lot was a sheet of ice, and it was sloped.  We slid down to the bottom of the parking lot, and I believe there was an angel who kept us from hitting the other vehicle that was parked there.  I knew we weren't going to drive farther before morning, and I wasn't sure if we were even going to get out of this parking lot.  We got sandwiches, and, hallelujah, there was a Ramada Inn across the street.  We walked over there and into the crowded lobby.  When it was my turn in line, I rented the last vacant room.  Jehovah Jireh Himself showed up for that merciful provision.  I surely didn't have any interest in driving around town hoping to find a vacancy in another motel.  I even was able to get the van across the street to the Ramada Inn parking lot, though I think I may have had to drive over the edge of the parking lot, down the curb, and into the street.   Our room had two queen size beds, so I had the three youngest girls sleep crosswise on one bed, and Liz and I had the other bed.  Everyone was able to rest comfortably for the night.  The next day I scraped a lot of ice off the van, and then we were able to make the rest of our journey without mishap, for which we were very grateful.  That day I really appreciated the fact that Colorado has a drier climate than Nebraska; the road conditions got better as we traveled west.
The Bible is full of angelic visitations on earth; I believe that angels show up here in the 21st century also.  We are not alone; our Shepherd and Protector is here, and so are His servants.