The answer is YES!
ABSOLUTELY! The Bible clearly states that this occurs in Hebrews 13:2. "Do not neglect to show hospitality
to strangers for thereby some have entertained angels."
Something happened to me
about 10 years ago that changed my life forever. I believe an Angel was sent to
teach me something. I would hope that if a person were visited by an angel,
they would never forget it and it would change their life forever. My angel
wasn't glowing and he didn't have wings or even look the least bit heavenly.
God has been directing me to share the story here.
At the time I worked for a
financial manager (stock broker). This man and his wife were very well off. Together,
their gross income was over $350K per year and they had well over $100K in the
stock market. If anyone had means to give to the needy, they were the people to
do so. Our office was just off a main street in Tulsa. Our office was a stand
alone building so there was no office or lobby to go through to get to us. When
entering the office, a person would be in a waiting room of sorts with a very
nice conference room on the left and a half wall directly across from the front
door. My desk was behind that half wall. My boss and another broker had offices
that were adjacent to my space but my boss could not see the front door from
his office.
In the past I had assisted
a few stranded motorists and the like that came through the door. On each
occasion I was rewarded with a tongue lashing and threats from my boss about
using my time or, should I say HIS time on other people. So, I was well aware
of my employer's feelings about helping others.
It was a very cold Winter
morning. Normally, in Oklahoma the temperature never drops below zero. It will
get down to the teens for a night or 2 but never actually below zero but this
particular week it had been below zero for 2 nights in a row. A man walked in
the front door and I got up to greet him. He looked so cold. I think he must
have had on 4 or 5 layers of clothes. He wasn't dirty and he really didn't look
like a homeless person. He had on a Carhart jacket, jeans and work boots. I
asked him if I could help him and he looked at me as sincerely as a person can
and said, "Mam, I am looking for some work - any work at all. I just can
NOT spend one more night in the cold. I only need $4 to spend the night inside
at the Y (YMCA) downtown. Is there anything here I could do to earn some
money?"
It just so happened that I
had a crisp $20 bill in my purse that I had retrieved from the ATM on my way to
work. Now, in those days, it was very rare for me to have more than $5 - $10
dollars in my pocket at any one time so that $20 may as well have been $1000
back then. I thought about that money for a split second and argued in my head
that I should just go get it and give it to the man. But instead, I reasoned
that surely
Sam would help this man by letting him clean the windows or something. I was wrong.
Dead wrong.
I walked into his office
and explained that a man was asking if he could do some work in order to earn
enough money to stay at the Y. Sam got out of his chair, walked around his desk
and headed towards the front office. When he got to where the man was standing,
the man held out his hand to shake Sam's hand. Sam recoiled in disgust (really)
and told the man he would not touch him and then told the man to get out of his
office and never to come back again. THIS is the moment I will never forget. I
have never seen a more dejected, humiliated and embarrassed look on anyone. The
man thanked Sam for his time, turned and walked out the door. I was stunned. I
couldn't move. Sam proceeded to chew me out for even considering giving this
man work. And at at that moment is where I failed. I didn't tell Sam that the
homeless man was a far greater man that Sam would ever be. I didn't go to my
desk, get my belongings and tell him what he could do with his job. I was a
coward. All I could think about was me and what it would mean to my family if I
quit that job.
About an hour later it was
my half hour lunch. The minute the clock hit the hour, I grabbed my purse with
the $20 bill inside, headed to my car and searched that entire stretch of road
for that man. Not only would I have given him that money but I would have
driven him the 5 miles to the downtown Y. I looked in every parking lot, around
every business and anywhere I thought that man could be but he had vanished! I
could not find him anywhere. I went back to work totally crushed but I have
never forgotten that day nor will I. From that day forward, if someone asked me
for money I gave it and I still do. Even if I only have a dollar, I will give
it to them. Its not my place to judge them or what they may or may not do with
that dollar. Jesus didn't say to give if you deem that they will use the gift
appropriately. He said to give. Period.
It wasn't until later that
it occurred to me that the man who came to my office may have very well been an
angel. Lord knows the lesson I received that day could not have been any
stronger if it had come from an angel. It truly changed my life and I will
never forget it.
So, my words to you are
this - do not be too quick to judge the person in front of you as worthless,
non-important, a loser or whatever other judgemental thing you might think
whereby you tell yourself you are far better than this person. I'm quite
certain God is not going to send a King to get his message across. He is going
to send someone that the world sees as lesser or even as having no value at
all.
I still pray for that man.
If he was real then I pray that he found warmth that night and every night
after. I don't even think I could pick him out of a crowd now but I will never
forget him just the same.
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