Do you believe in angels? I do!
As Christmas is just one day away, most of us know a message that Christmas represents--a message that God came down from heaven to
be with us, as we call Him Immanuel. A message
that was delivered by heavenly beings called Angels. First, it was a special Angel, Communication Director Angel, Gabriel, that delivered a special
message to Mary about her role as the mother of the Son of God. There was also a group of Angels that
delivered a message in songs to the lowly shepherds that the Christ had been born in the little town of Bethlehem. There were many stories of
encounters between angels and men as well as women in pre-Christ Old Testament. I love stories of these angels
including the story of the Angel of the Lord, the pre-incarnate Christ having a
wrestling match with Jacob or Israel.
So there were stories of angels in the olden
days of Bible; what about modern days?
Does God care enough to send angels to people? Do I believe in angels in these modern days? The answer is an emphatic “Yes”! I will talk about some of the stories
of special people that could be angels in various times during my life. I will have three part stories about
angels and I; let’s start with Part I: Angels In LA!
This part of the Angels stories was an updated version of the one I posted in Facebook more than a year ago. Enjoy and be touched by the angels too!
Sometimes angels came in the form of human
strangers and friends; they are sent by God to rescue you or offer you comfort
in time of distress, loneliness, and fear like the stories we read in the Bible
such as Jacob’s and his dream of Angels ascending and descending on the ladder from heaven to earth while he was on a lonely journey.
In 2011, a friend, Jeremy Koff of Koffeehouse, a famous
LA producer of events to promote new named musical talents, invited me to a
private fundraiser event for Fender Music Foundation. The place is called
Hummingbird Nest Ranch, which is outside of but not too far from LA city.
Being directional challenged, I had slight problem because according to the
invite, the place was in Santa Susana, but my GPS only had it as Simi Valley.
Since I had no choice at the time when I was already in the car and no
time for Map Quest, I just had to trust my lady in the GPS and selected Simi
Valley.
The place was very nice as you can see from the
picture in the link that I am posting. When I went there, it was still daytime and
the weather was quite nice and sunny. There were refreshments,
appetizers, fruits, and good companies of people who supported the cause.
There was of course music because the event was to raise funds for music
education to students in underprivileged areas where music budget in school was
extremely limited. I enjoyed the event and pledged to partially adopt one of the schools in LA (Jeremy was able to raise over $25,000 for this event.)
Then the evening came and the sky outside the
window was dark; since I came by myself, I thought it would be wise to leave
before the event was over, and because I promised an artist friend, Ashley
Cuellar to go and support her that night at her “Cabaret Idol” competition in
Hollywood (she won, by the way). So after I stopped by the powder room, I
walked outside, but the place outside was not lighted brightly with spotlight
that night the way it looks now in the picture. I parked on a slope with a
line of cars between there and the building, and since it was a ranch like
surrounding on rolling hills and mountain, the area was very dark.
Being directionally challenged, I was a little
concerned that I would get lost in the dark, so I asked for direction to the
parking from the only gentleman that came out of the building at that
time. I couldn’t even see his face, and it started to sprinkle. He
said he parked in the direction I said I parked as well, and he would accompany
me there. He offered his arm for me like an escort the way they do in wedding
when the usher offers the arms to a lady guest, or in old movies; you know what
I mean? I held the arm he offered as we walked down the steps of the
Spanish style building. I felt like a familiar person was being my
company, and I felt safe.
It was pitch dark and as we started walking
down the slope, the rain started to pour! I was not prepared for the rain as I was wearing summer high-heeled slippers for the party. He asked me
what type of car, and I told him as we walked briskly. I got to my car
first, so I quickly thanked him for his company and escort. All this
time, I didn’t see or recognized his face, the way the disciples were walking
and unknowly meeting with Jesus on the road to Emmaus after His resurrection (Luke 24:13; Mark
16:12).
After I got in the car, I drove off, but
directionally challenged as I was (and still am most of the time), I went the
wrong way, went down a pitch-dark road along the mountain, and I saw a house,
which is probably a living quarter for the caretakers of
Hummingbird Nest Ranch. I asked for the direction of the exit, and he
said I had to drive back the opposite way. Then there was a car that
probably was following me to this wrong way, so the car backed out as I
did, and led me to the right path in a little winding road down the hills and
out of the ranch compound. The car went different way and disappeared in
the dark. I made it to Ashley’s “Cabaret Idol” competition that night,
and arrived home safely after.
Guess what Ashley sang in her first competition-it was one of my favorites,
Sarah McLachlan's “Arms of the Angel”.
See Ashley’s performance in this Youtube video link. You may also like her fan page on
Facebook following the link here: https://www.facebook.com/fansofashley
Another time that I encountered human angels
was when my church friend invited me to attend a concert at Forest Lawn Memorial
auditorium, Hollywood Hills. It was a fundraiser concert for Glendale Adventist Academy music department. After
the excitement for the amazing presentation by the students and the music
teachers, I had to leave and walk down the hill from the Hall of Liberty, where
the event took place. Without the help of a couple, who drove me to my
parking place at the end of a very dark road, it would be possible that I would
be roaming the Forest Lawn cemetery looking for my car all night. Again,
strangers became my angels to the rescue, and I just want to write about the
sighting, to celebrate them and God’s amazing love towards me!!
My next post will be about my experience with
angels in Japan, probably in a few days.
End Note:
1) Jeremy Koff’s Koffeehouse production website
is http://koffeehouse.com/. The site is now open for applications
from musicians that wish to perform at Koffeehouse Chateau, the largest evening
of independent music at Sundance Film festival on Sunday, January 19,
2014. It was voted “Top 10 Parties
of Sundance” 2011 by Film.com.
2) Also note that the lighting at Hummingbird
Ranch was sufficient in my subsequent visits at the Ranch.
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