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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion Wednesday, August 6, 2003 "Earthly Angels" |
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Frontline Devotion for Wednesday, August 6, 2003 by Penny Risen
My angel that day wore a Yankee's baseball cap, mirrored sunglasses and a yellow T-shirt.
As I swirled around in the frigid Snake River, stuck between a huge rubber raft and large boulders.
I wasn't thinking about angels. Instead, the silence in this deep blue world is what impressed me in those few desperate seconds: "Whoa, this is really something!" I marveled to myself. "What have I done to deserve this?" I asked, suddenly panicked.
From above, a slender arm reached to grab my outstretched hand and yanked hard. As I surfaced from the rapids, I saw the blonde woman who rescued me calling for others to boost me aboard. She held me at arm's length a second to make sure I was breathing, gave me a bear hug, then with a grin she shoved me safely into the middle of the boat as we swirled farther downriver.
I'd never met that woman before her lifesaving grab, hadn't noticed her in the large raft as we climbed aboard on that sunny Wyoming morning a few years ago. But when I was thrown headfirst into the rapids, she'd instantly appointed herself my angel. I never saw her again, but I often think about her and the whitewater trial we shared. I believe we both were very lucky.
When we are tested, tempted, given trials in our lives, God is still looking out for us and He loves us. We may ask ourselves: What have I done to deserve the pain, the hardship at this point in my life? What can get me through it? Who can help me?
Do you think Jesus asked Himself this as He endured heat, thirst, hunger, and loneliness in the desert? He realized a new part of His life was about to begin -- His true mission on earth as Messiah -- but He must have had a few human doubts as the devil challenged and mocked him.
And as told in Matthew 4, when the 40-day test was done "angels came and attended Him" -- sent by the Father to His Son, His beloved.
God sends angels to help us, but perhaps not angels of the same sort who attended Jesus when He triumphed in His temptation in the wilderness. Earthly angels can appear at just the right time to help us: Equipped with a kind or wise word, caring hands -- and maybe once in a great while, strong enough to give us a swift yank from the rapids back into the boat to resume our journey.
A wise aunt repeated to me as a teenager: "Don't fly faster than your angel!"
We all are risk takers, knowing that in whatever form our sins occur we are taking chances with God's goodwill toward us. Accepting temptation is choosing to put our wishes and ourselves first, instead of God. As Christians, we can turn from temptation. We can be rescued by the God who loves us, who wants us to succeed and not to be drowned in sin.
Having plunged into deep water and tested with near drowning, I hope I came back a bit stronger and wiser for the trial. For a long time, I carried a Snake River medallion on my key ring to remind me of being rescued. I still have a small scar on my right knee from the swirling river's rocks. I still remember the angelic smile of the blonde in the Yankee's cap.
Prayer for the Day: Dear Lord, temptations and trials are everywhere we go. Help us to accept joyfully the angels, in whatever form, that You send to attend us. Let life's tests make us stronger and wiser to serve You. Amen.
(Please read Pastor Dave Sonnenberg's wonderful reflection on Jesus' temptation
outlined in his Saturday, Aug.
2 devotion. Click on Frontline Devotion Archives.)
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