Archive for November, 2008
Rising Like Incense
It was twenty years ago and Joseph Homick was a novice in a Byzantine-rite Catholic monastery in Redwood Valley, California. His “obedience” that chilly autumn day was to chop down some heavy undergrowth in an area designated as a future building site. “We were extremely poor in those days,” says Joseph, “so for this task [...]
Red-Haired Angel
Tony Dale believes that angels are presented to us in our world in many different ways. Some are mysterious strangers who can never be found again and some are regular people who just “happen” to be there at the right time. Which was his? It’s up to you.
Tony was a lost and confused 22 year [...]
Signals from Angels
Cathy Dailey writes to share her sister’s story about guardian angels, so appropriate for their Feast, celebrated each year on October 2nd. Cathy’s sister, Barbara, had tried for many years to become a mother. Despite some health difficulties, Barbara had had at least four procedures to help her get pregnant, but none had [...]
Signs of the Season
One evening during the summer of 1997, Debbie Cruikshank and her 13-year-old daughter, Rachel, were lying on the floor reading magazines. Debbie turned onto her stomach—and in that moment her entire life changed. “I could feel a sharp pain inside, like I had fallen on a rock,” she recalls. Within a month she was facing [...]
Sleeping Bags?
Harold and Beulah Bassler, an elderly couple from Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, were enjoying their usual after-church Sunday drive. They were on a small country road, admiring the scenery, when suddenly a large car approached. The driver (who they later discovered was drunk) was aiming right for them. Harold swerved, but there was nowhere for [...]
Smiley Face
Susan Dess and her little son Adam shared a wonderful and unique relationship. When he was eighteen months old, Adam was diagnosed with a rare disease. “Our lives changed that day,” Susan recalls. “My husband, myself and our two other children began to live life with a new meaning of ‘normal’.”
When it was time for [...]
Smoothing the Way
Julie Hill’s uncle died only two years after his wife’s death. Julie had visited him many times while he was grieving Then he developed brain cancer, and lost his battle with it shortly thereafter. “I was on my way to the funeral in Escondido, California when I experienced something extraordinary,” Julie [...]
Someone’s Outside
Monica Stonebraker of Zionsville, Indiana was excited when she and her husband found a townhouse to rent. Lots of potential—but it needed some cleaning before the couple could move in. Monica got busy right away, and was scraping wallpaper off the second floor bedroom one day when her sister-in-law, Connie, stopped by to [...]
So Much Left to Do
When Thomas Stevens was 22, he had a serious accident. He fell toward a window, and put his arms out to break the fall. Instead, his left arm went through the glass and he severed most of its tendons and arteries. His then-girlfriend, Sarah, had the presence of mind to make a tourniquet out of [...]
Statues in the Ashes
Recovering from a painful divorce, Pat Dygart wondered if she’d be able to celebrate the approaching holidays. She had stored Christmas decorations and other memorabilia in the basement of her new house, hesitant to unpack them because of the hurtful memories they would invoke. However, she decided to set up her cherished Nativity [...]
