Shout for Joy
|
|
|
|
In Acts 10 we meet a man by the name of Cornelius. He is described in the text as a God-fearing military man who gave generously to the needy and prayed on a regular basis. (I suspect that his prayer life accounts for his generosity.) One afternoon Cornelius had an unusual experience – a vision in which an angel came into his house and called him by name. Startled, he stared at the angel in fear and asked what he wanted. The angel acknowledged his prayers and generosity and, perhaps on that basis, told him he was to send men to Jerusalem and bring back a man named Simon who was called Peter.
The thing that caught my attention was the encounter between an angel and the soldier. In our tendency to think stereotypically many of us would question a captain in the Roman military seeing angels and especially doing what they would tell him to do. Angelic beings live in the mindset of the more mystical and ethereal members of our group. Traditionally, I found myself in this “down to earth” category when it came to dreams and visions. That is by no means a denial of the supernatural, just a lack of awareness. Then unexpectedly, I met an angel – not a nice person with an angelic disposition, but a flesh and blood angel. Experience certainly turns out to be far more persuasive than opinion. Here is an honest attempt to tell you the story as it happened. I was in the local hospital for one of those things that affect the well-along-in-years. It was some time in the middle of the night that a male nurse came to my room to carry out that little routine that checks the vitals. This young man was a black, and quite adept. We got to talking and at one point in the conversation he knelt by my bed to be closer and I was saying to myself, “This is the kind of a man who I’d like to know better. I can still sense the warmth of our sudden relationship and my desire that he have a copy of my new translation of Paul’s letters, Dear Friends, This is Paul. I had three copies of the book with me on that day, two for the two nurses who had requested them, and an extra. I asked my visitor if he would like it and he was delighted. To inscribe it I asked his name; it was Willie (ie, not y, as he told me). Finished with his work in my room, he thanked me profusely and left. In the morning I asked for more information on this visitor and found out that the little hospital here on the island doesn’t have any black nurses! But I saw him and had a talk with him; he was there. And, Oh yes, I gave him a book. And where was that third copy? After extensive search we failed to find it, so did Willie take it back to his room somewhere above? Don’t know, but what I do know is that I had a real and tangible connection with an angel by the name of Willie. So here is my conclusion: As Cornelius saw and conversed with an angel that day so long ago, I had a similar experience several months ago. If there were more time I would expand the narrative, but for now I’ll just enjoy the experience with Cornelius who along with me was blessed the visit of a real angel. They are around, can’t you ”see” them?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorRobert H Mounce Archives
January 2019
|