Angel encounter

January 10, 2007

By John W. Kennedy

I’ve rarely been aware of the presence of angels, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t around. My wife, Patty, saw an angel in 1991 without realizing it until afterwards.

Our two older sons, Josh and Jesse, had gone to an elementary school for Little League practice. Our youngest son, Zach, had just turned 5. He asked his mother if he could go watch his older brothers play ball. Patty, who was talking on the phone at the time, told Zach no. The school was four blocks away and Patty didn’t want Zach going there alone. Zach knew the rules: no leaving our property without permission.

But when Patty finished her phone conversation, Zach was nowhere to be found. She went around the house yelling his name. No response. He wasn’t in the yard. Patty called me at work and asked me to pray.

Patty frantically checked with our neighbors, thinking Zach may have wandered over to play with their young son. They hadn’t seen Zach. Our neighbor Greg drove to the practice field, but couldn’t find Zach.

Most mothers would be frantic in such a situation. But Patty had been praying in the Spirit ever since Zach disappeared. Just then a well-dressed, elderly woman walked up to our house, Zach’s small hand in hers.

The woman had found Zach trying to cross a busy intersection five blocks the other way. Zach thought his brothers had gone to the field where they played Little League games, not the field where they went to practice. This intersection had no crosswalks or lights — and it was 5:15 in the afternoon when traffic was heaviest. The woman walked Zach back those five blocks.

Patty naturally was relieved to see Zach unharmed. She bent down to hug and kiss him. When she stood up to thank the woman, the woman had disappeared. Patty looked up and down our street. Our house was in the middle of the block, not near any corner. The woman had simply vanished.

A couple of lessons here: First, children obey your parents (Ephesians 6:1). The second is also from Ephesians 6, verse 18: “Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests” (NIV).

John W. Kennedy is news editor of Today’s Pentecostal Evangel.