[THE eXchanger]

Rescued by Angels
by Pastor Swope



printed with the author's permission


I like Angel stories; they inspire hope and faith. I have quite a few of them in my collection, and I've shared with you one of my personal experiences. But there are some stories that are truly awesome. Here are two on the topic of Angelic intervention in dire circumstances.

Debby was VERY pregnant. In fact, she was past her due date by almost a week that summer afternoon in the late 1990s, but it didn't stop her from going about her daily business. She always carried her cell phone just in case her water broke and she needed immediate help. She did not stop performing her duties as a medical transcriptionist either. In fact, for her at this time it was a perfect job, for she could stay at home and transcribe the tapes that she picked up every other day in the city.

She was called by one of her regular physicians early that morning and asked if she could make an emergency stop by his office to transcribe the report of a patient whom he had just seen that needed expert advice from a professional out of town. It was late in the day and Debby usually took the main route to town, but she knew she would face rush hour traffic and did not think she could make it there on time, so she took a shortcut through the less traveled mountain roads of Western Pennsylvania, hoping to cut almost an hour off her round trip time.

She was the lone car twisting and turning on the roads that cut through those aged mountains, and she was miles away from the nearest small town when she ran into trouble. She was navigating a sharp turn and didn't see the road was wet from a brief afternoon shower, and she lost control of the vehicle. She just hit the guardrail enough to throw her car into a spin, and it flipped over the rail and rolled down the hillside almost 100 yards.

Luckily, the impact of the fall was slightly buffered by the small fur trees that littered the hillside. This also hid her car from view from the road above, however. She was not severely hurt but as she came to her senses the pain from her leg was intense. She could see the bone sticking out and the blood trickling out of her wound, and although the car sat upright, she knew she was in no shape to make it back up the hillside - not that there would be anyone to rescue her out in the middle of nowhere anyway.

But even though panicked, Debby was still in full control of her senses, and after tearing off a piece of her dress to fashion a makeshift tourniquet for her leg in order to slow the bleeding, she groped around the inside of the car for her purse which held her cell. She turned it on and dialed 911, hoping that there was a tower within range. Thank goodness there was, and the operator came on the phone. Debby told her of her predicament and stated her injuries as best to her knowledge as well as the fact of her pregnancy.

But when the operator asked her where she was, she had no clue. She could not even remember the name of the road she was on when the accident happened. This left a wide search area for the rescuers to comb, and Debby knew even with luck she would be stranded for quite a while.

That was when the panic struck her.

Back in the early days of cellular phones, there were no GPS location finders for cell phones like there are today. Many a 911 operator had the agonizing duty of staying on the line while accident victims in remote locations slowly died of their injuries. Debby had heard the stories too many times herself from her associates in the hospital.

Fear overwhelmed her, and she began to have a panic attack, for she was facing the possibility of dying alone in the woods with no one being able to find her. In her panic, she tried to get out of the car and scale the hillside. That was when her water broke.

In overwhelming stress, she just lay there next to the car and started to weep and scream. The minutes seemed to turn to hours as the pains of labor began to become so intense that they overshadowed that of her broken leg. She knew what she had to do, but all she could do is scream and cry. And pray.

It seemed like she had been lying there for a good many hours as the pains began to come closer and closer together when she heard the rustling of the pine limbs around her. Wearily, she picked herself up to look in the general direction of the noise.

Out of the thick green canopy came a middle-aged man in a business suit, carrying an old fashioned doctor's bag. He quickly came to her side and began to ease her on her back. She does not remember exactly what he said, but he spoke with a gentle voice of comfort that seemed to wash away the panic and fear from her. He gave her some water and began to prepare her for childbirth. Her memories of the moment were hurried and blurred, but soon she remembers holding her perfect little son in her arms, safe and healthy.

The stranger broke off a limb from a nearby tree with amazing strength for an older gentleman, and quickly fashioned a walking stick. He took the baby in one arm and propped Debby up with his left side as they slowly made their way up to the top of the hill. The pain was extreme but balancing her weight between the man and the stick helped her to not cause any more damage to her leg as they struggled onward.

It was evening by the time they made it to the road, and the man helped her sit on the guardrail and gave her back her newborn son. She sat there and looked into his peaceful face illuminated by the moonlight, and was overcome with so much emotion she just began to weep uncontrollably.

I'm sorry, I didn't even ask your name, she said, wiping her eyes, and as she looked over to where he was standing, no one was there. The man was nowhere to be seen. She was alone as far as she could see, and as soon as she realized that, the headlights of a truck immediately blazed across the turn in the road.

It was a sheriff's vehicle.

She asked the sheriff if he had seen her rescuer, but he gave her a puzzled look. Nobody's around here for miles. You're just lucky; I came down this way on an odd hunch.

For months after the accident, she tried to find the identity of her rescuer, but no one came forward. The nearest home was many miles away. At the time of the accident when news of her peril spread in the community from the 911 operator, not only did people join in the search for her but people began to pray. You might try to convince her it was an odd coincidence, but Debby is sure that on that hot summer night in her hour of great need, God sent an Angel - an Angel with an old-fashioned doctor's bag.

The party at the cabin went well into the night, and a good time was had by all. Members of the Parker family always looked forward to their semi- annual get together on the lake. Not only did they love to catch up with each other, they loved to slowly go to sleep while exchanging stories in front of the cabin's large fireplace.






A spark or two must have jumped out of the grand old stonework fireplace, and the fire spread rapidly. They all awoke to the screaming of their grandmother as she saw the curtains go up in flames. Before they could get everyone up on their feet, it had spread to the carpet and across the old crisp tinder walls. Panic overcame everyone as soon it seemed they were trapped in a giant whirlpool of fire. The backdoor was engulfed, and the front door was blocked by smoldering luggage.

It seemed there was no way out.

Some of the men attempted in vain to push the flaming luggage aside, only to be badly burned. The fire would quickly take the old cabin and the entire family with it. Just when they thought their fate was sealed, the front door smashed open. A mighty axe cut the door in two and a large fireman in full gear burst through the flaming door. With a few mighty kicks, the firefighter cleared the area of the doorway from the flaming debris and quickly yelled for everyone to get out the door. None of them needed to be told twice.

The entire family made it out safe and sound onto the driveway, and with as much pain from emotional loss as physical, they all watched with sadness and fear as the old family vacation house went up in a huge blaze, lighting the night sky for miles. After a few minutes, a fire truck came tearing down the old dirt road from town.

It was then that the members of the family noticed the heroic firefighter was not in their number as they sat on the gravel parking lot. Some panicked as they feared that he did not make it out even though his efforts had assured the safety of the entire family. They huddled close as the fire took on a new dread.

But when they made reference to the hero to the rest of the firemen, none of them knew what they were talking about. They were the only fire crew for miles around, and the gear they described the man wearing was too expensive for their small town volunteer organization.

Who was it then that saved the Parker family from a certain fiery death? Searching the ruins revealed no body. No one knew who the hero was. But many of the Parkers are sure that it was not a mere human firefighter that saved them that night.

A doctor. A firefighter. Each coming at the most opportune time out of nowhere, only to vanish back into that self-same ethereal void when their selfless work was done.

Angels can appear at any time and in any form. Not all come to trumpet a revelation or vision of prophecy. Some just come at the right time, at the right place, as the right person.


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Pastor Swope is a writer and has been a Christian Minister for more than 15 years. He holds a B.A. in Biblical Literature and is finishing an M.Div. in Pastoral Ministry. He has served as a Missionary to Burkina Faso, and has Ministered to the homeless in New York City's Hell's Kitchen. He is the founder and chief officiant of Open Gate Ministerial Services and a member of St. Paul's United Church of Christ in Erie, Pennsylvania. For more fascinating articles, visit his website, check out his MySpace page, or send him an email. He also has a spiritual guidebook available at Amazon entitled Walking with Awanu.
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