Touched By An Angel

At morning service on this Easter Sunday Pastor Buddy Payne preached the story of the missing body of Christ in the tomb.

He described the angel that sat on a rock outside Christ’s empty tomb. The angel told Mary Magdalene and the other Mary Christ was gone and had gone ahead to Galilee.

Buddy asked the congregation whether anyone had ever seen an angel.

“Raise your hand if you have,” he asked.

Of course, no one wanted to be identified as having a close encounter with an angel.

That would be strange, right? 

I didn’t raise my hand, but I do have an experience that is not explainable that occurred during the most turbulent time in my life and I have never publicly acknowledged it. A couple of news flashes this week triggered those horrible memories that led to my encounter of the third kind.

Please respect my silence on the events this week that brought some old scars to the forefront.  

Back to the angel story….

I was alone and not doing well in the fall of 2003, I took off on a long walk in Fairfield, Illinois. It was how I dealt with stress. I would take off from my home and walk towards the Maple Hill Cemetery.

I walk with my head down…..the by-product of a couple of back surgeries. On this walk I was consumed by emotion and lost focus on time and space. I was walking and praying….trying to get a grip on a very bad situation.

Just as I was pondering an array of decisions with no good answers…….I looked up and almost ran into an elderly woman along the cemetery walking path.

She was dressed normally. I did not recognize her.

She reached out and grabbed my arm and said:

“Dr. Dreith…..we are so very happy you are here with us.”

I stammered…”Well….I’m happy to be here too, Mam.”

She smiled and walked past me.

Understand, I was standing in a huge cemetery on a walking path. This woman had stopped me in my tracks and said something encouraging to me in a moment of confusion and grief.

I stood there for a moment and collected myself.

I remember thinking how grateful I was to her for making me feel good for a moment. Her kind words were so appreciated. They broke the agony…

I turned to tell her of my gratitude and she wasn’t there anymore.

No, really. I couldn’t have lost sight of her for more than a minute.

She was gone.

I looked in all directions……Gone.

At that moment it struck me that I had been comforted by a higher power.

It was a turning point for me. And I have always believed that an angel touched me in Maple Hill Cemetery.

You can explain the episode any way you like. I know what I believe….and I believe that in a moment of horrible turmoil, the Lord wanted me to know that I was not alone and that there were reasons why I was in a small town in southeastern Illinois in misery because of the actions of others. I think the message was simple. Things are gonna be OK.

I know secular society looks down its nose at Christians and our beliefs. You might want to find ways to explain the episode in many ways. That’s fine…I know what I believe.

And I should have raised my hand at service this morning.

Because an angel touched me eight years ago…….and my life got remarkably better.