Story of the Week April 24 2009

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April 24, 2009

—Hello, angel friends. As usual, our crackerjack researchers (that’s you) came up with the title of the poem sent last time for Easter . Check it out at http://nethymnal.org/htm/g/h/ghatsent.htm

—Those of you who have been here for awhile know that I do two commercials a year, one at Christmas, and one for Mother’s Day. I hate asking people to buy my books, especially now when most of us are counting our pennies. However, bringing the stories to you every other week does cost money as well as time, and I have realized lately that if everyone on our angel list purchased one of my books each year, these expenses would be covered. One annual $15 book doesn’t sound too difficult for most, especially if you buy it as a gift for someone. (Hence, the commercial for Mother’s Day). And a book also helps you be an ambassador for the angels, spreading the good news to someone who especially needs it now.
The website http://joanwanderson.com has all the information and books descriptions you need, and you can order from me and receive an autographed book. However, www.amazon.com offers the books at a discount, which can make it even easier (but no autograph). And just a thought—I have an updated version of an older book, WHERE MIRACLES HAPPEN scheduled to come out in September. If you’d rather wait til then, no problem. As always, it’s completely up to you. Thanks.

—A new member has offered her opinion of a dvd just available from Blockbusters. “Angel Wars, The Messengers is a new 3-d animated adventure series about angelic warfare. It’s put out by Fox Faith, and is quite good. The kids were entertained and educated a bit– decent amount of scriptural references.” Families need this information, and Blockbuster is also a family friendly business and deserves our support. Thanks again! And here’s the story:

Sam from New Jersey writes of a time when he was twenty years old, and living a somewhat reckless life. His friend Jimmy was the instigator of much of the trouble the two got into, but Sam didn’t have the will power to avoid Jimmy completely. One night after midnight, the two were driving around looking for something to do, when Jimmy decided to break into a store nearby. There was a particular item in the store that he wanted, and no one would be there at this hour. Why not steal it?

Sam protested loudly, but Jimmy was persuasive. “I was easily led and confused about life,” Sam says. “It isn’t an excuse, just an explanation for why Jimmy eventually argued me into helping him.” Sam drove Jimmy to Jimmy’s house where he got his crowbar. Then Sam drove up and parked behind the store, and the youths got out. It was extremely quiet, no traffic, few sounds. There were houses facing the back of the store, just fifty or sixty yards away, but they were all in darkness. Sam looked around in fear. His heart was starting to race. But Jimmy picked up the crowbar, and wedged it into the crack of the heavy steel door. “Let’s do it!”

The young men took turns prying, Sam looking nervously around. Odd that there were no people anywhere. “Every time the crowbar slipped out of the crack, the door would slam shut again, making a shattering sound that bounced off the houses behind us,” Sam says. “My heart was pounding by now—I had never committed a real crime before, and I was waiting for someone to come running out of those houses.” They were making far too much noise, and they were going to be caught any minute now. He knew it. Jimmy, however, was single-minded and even excited. “We’ll get in soon!” he kept telling Sam. “Keep going!”

They worked at the door for almost an hour, making a huge racket as the steel on the door creaked and snapped back. Jimmy accidentally dropped the crowbar on the concrete a few times, and jammed it inside the door. Finally, as they both pushed, the door gave way. Quickly they stepped inside, waiting for their eyes to adjust to the darkness. Jimmy saw it first—a room with food, a refrigerator, a counter for food preparation… “Holy cow! The store owner lives here!”

But where was he? Why hadn’t he investigated? Suddenly they heard noises coming from the front of the store. Someone had finally been awakened, and was coming after them! “We bolted for the door and ran to the car,” says Sam. “I turned the ignition and hit the gas so hard that the tires shrieked.” Whoever was in the store would surely come after them now. “Slow down!” Jimmy told Sam. “Drive down the side of the building, and around to the street.”

“No way!” Sam protested. “If someone’s out in front, we’ll get caught for sure.”
“It’s the only way out–just DO it!” Jimmy argued, and as usual, Sam capitulated.

“I drove down the side of the building, and when we passed the wall and could see the front of the store, what was sitting there but a cop car!,” Sam says. “No lights on, no siren, everything dark. I almost died right there.” But Jimmy was still alert.

“Easy, Sam,” he directed. “Just keep going nice and slow, and pull onto the street. Make a right turn and drive quietly past the front of the store.”

Sam obeyed, and as they drove by, they got a good look. There was only one police officer there, probably the source of the noise that had frightened them. “He was halfway into the store,” Sam says, “holding his gun way out in front of him with both hands, ready to shoot. I knew then how lucky I was.”

Sam dropped Jimmy off, and went home, his heart still pounding. It was the last time he would get involved with Jimmy, he knew. He was at a fork in his personal road, and he was going to go the right way. And he did.

But he has continued to think about the episode. “Why didn’t anyone hear the tremendous racket we made the whole time we were there?” he wonders. “Why was there only one police officer instead of the usual two—they could have blocked off the exits and caught us easily. And why didn’t the one that was there hear my tires squealing and come around to catch us?” All Sam can believe is that God was looking out for him that night. “I have wondered if the police officer was really my guardian angel, sending me a serious warning,” he says.

What do you think?

Friends, this story is being published on www.guideposts.com today too. They love comments, so if you have one about this story, you might want to post it there. Click www.guideposts.com, then click the Faith and Inspiration tab, and you should see this story. Leave a comment at the end.