Saturday, June 27, 2009

How many angels does it take?

Timing is everything. Have you ever heard that statement?

If you follow sports of any type, you more than likely have heard that exact statement. The games play-by-play announcers will qualify a running play in a football game as to how the running back 'hit the hole' a second before it collapsed and broke into the secondary gaining enough yardage for a much needed first down.

It's all about timing.

In baseball, bat speed is crucial. Having a small spinning orb hurled toward you that can be moving erratically itself along its path to the catchers mitt. The batter must have good bat speed to execute exact timing in order to make contact putting the ball into play.

Perfect timing...bat hitting the ball.

What about the inconvenient fender bender you happened upon while heading to the mall last weekend. Looks like the one car had run the red light and clipped the rear bumper of the car in the crossing traffic. Just how close was that?

Was timing involved here?

Suppose the driver of the car that had their bumper clipped had dropped their car keys twice while leaving the house or maybe a last minute phone call to delay them. Would that have been enough time to possibly miss the incident entirely?

Come with me into the realm of the spiritual world. Guardian angels to be exact.

Now whether you believe in this style of thinking or not, open your mind just a little and imagine it with me.

I like to believe that we all have at least one guardian angel assigned to each of us and will call for help from the other angels sitting on the bench should the need for spiritual-backup arise.

You have to admit, there are some of us that need more help than others...just look around and think about the folks driving the open road with you. Yeah, you know the ones I'm talking about...the same ones that can't walk and chew gum very well.

There may be the occasion where you never see the results of the actions from our guardian angels, which supports the fact that those type of people go thru life oblivious to the world around them. We could call them 'clueless' or 'information challenged'.

Being 'clueless' is not entirely bad. It becomes a way of life for them and supports the short quotation: "Don't know why they call it common sense, when a lot of folks don't got it".

You've seen these people before. Something happens that is really out of the norm, and the only reaction you get from them is maybe a head shake with a grunt.

The ones that scare me are the ones with the patented 'blank-stare' after a near critical encounter. You can see it in their eyes, the lights are on but nobody's home.

Just this week while traveling to one of my physical therapy appointments, I left work with plenty of time to navigate the mid-day traffic, I encountered one of the events I mentioned above.

The drive is mostly highway traffic and not at all congested. My mind is on the therapy session treating my shoulder and a dental appointment after that.

During the first couple of miles on the highway, I noticed the sound of wind blowing past the doors and windows. For some odd reason, the wind noise seemed a bit more 'pronounced' during this portion of the drive.

I did a quick check of the windows, making sure all were rolled up so not to lose any air conditioning on this HOT afternoon.

So to assist in covering the sound, I turned up the volume of the radio and before long I forgot about the wind noise. It's right about now I realize that I am doing just like my daughter used to do...changing the radio stations.

Cannot stand commercials. Want to hear music and since my CD player quit on me a couple of years ago, I am at the mercy of the local mid afternoon DJ for any type of musical entertainment.

Don't forget to take the EXIT ahead...thinking to myself...you wouldn't want to miss and have to double back. Got to stay in this lane.....

Thoughts while driving cover everything going on in your life. EVERYTHING!

Summer vacation for the kids, situations at work, the family, wanting to be at the lake complaining about it being too hot to fish, the monthly electrical utility bill due to the summer heat, and the next school year being the freshman year for our son in high school....

Don't like that song, changing the station...

It's almost automatic, taking the EXIT and easing along the service road that leads to the underpass where I will take the U-turn and avoid the traffic light and the intersection.

There are no other cars ahead of me in the lane leading into the U-turn...

Along the elevated portion of the freeway, the highway department has planted shrubs to soften the point where the concrete and grass come together.

Something catches my attention in the traffic that is stopped at the intersection and I take my eyes away from the left turn into the U-turn...

As I negotiate the turn, I immediately spot a set of denim clad legs thru the long thin blades of the pampas grass shrub moving across the same feeder road my truck is occupying...what the...

My reflex was automatic, hitting the brakes and swerving to the right...

The anti-lock brakes perform their designed tasks and I can feel and hear the tires digging into the pavement with the familiar chirp-chirp-chirp...

When I came to a stop....the individual was standing even with the driver side door just looking at me thru the window....with 'the look'. A look that just kind of asked where the heck did you come from...?

It looked like he had grunted and shook his head at me all the while wondering why I was in his way not wanting him to cross the road...

I was dumbfounded. Had I not swerved to miss him, the distance from the front of my truck to the drivers door was how far he might have been up rolled up in a heap under my truck or possibly thrown into the large concrete pylons supporting the freeway overpass.

After about a full 5 second eye to eye encounter, the man turned and walked to the rear of my pick-up and proceeded in his direction of choice...across the feeder road and towards the intersection.

You reckon there were any guardian angels involved with this chance meeting? I for one do truly believe in guardian angels with this story as my testament.

Was the sound of wind rushing by my windows actually the sound from the wings of my angels either speeding me up or trying to slow me down? Possibly.

Can you picture a wall of angels standing shoulder to shoulder across the U-turn feeder lane laying down a wall of protection for this man whose life would have been changed?

If it weren't for the guardian angels that afternoon, both of our lives would have been changed dramatically.

Talk about Devine Intervention or Perfect Timing....

I gave a short prayer of thanks for the good ending to what could have been a really bad situation. I experienced a rush of emotions within the next several minutes.

So the next time you drop your keys repeatedly while trying to start your car, or you have to make an extra trip back inside because you forgot the receipt for the gift you're returning, or the phone call while just leaving for the store....it could be your guardian angel doing their job.

Think about this the next time your alarm clock doesn't get you up and you run late for work...just think about your guardian angel and what you may have missed.

Using a closing quote from one of the afternoon DJ's... "Don't drive so fast that your guardian angel can't keep up...."

2 comments:

  1. My daughter and I sat @ the intersection of College and Major at a red light about to turn left unto Major. The light turned green, and I froze. My daughter looked at me as if to say, go mom, what are you waiting for, but said nothing. Finally a car honked behind us & I was about to make the turn when..
    This car came barreling through what would have been a red light for him. His tire clipped the curb at the Exxon and momentarily left the ground. This person never slowed down.
    After I did make the turn I pulled over on the shoulder, cut my motor off and my daughter and I just sat for awhile. We both knew had I turned when I was suppose to we would have died.
    I told her I wanted to turn but something just held me back. She said she wanted to say, "go mom," when the light turned green but something wouldn't allow it. Do we believe in guardian angels? Oh yeagh!

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  2. Ever think that everything from the creation of the Earth until that encounter had to happen exactly as it did for it to happen like it did?

    Jaison

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