Angels at the Crossroads

It is in the letter to the Hebrews that we find that verse, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it."  (Hebrews 13:2). I remember my mother feeding and showing kindness to a homeless guy who showed up at the back door of our duplex home back around the time I was in the second grade.  Obviously, it left a lasting impression on me.  There were others who received kindness and care from her, but this one is the one always remembered.  

There was a time when I did not see angels showing up in my path.  There were other names I gave to them that kept me from seeing them as people God put in my path for a purpose.  It is not something about which to brag, but is instead something to confess and repent.  In that period of my life, deciding on the merits of their need was something I took upon myself.  It is strange how we can take upon ourselves a judgement which belongs not to us, but to God.  Somewhere along the way, the Spirit got my attention, opened my eyes to what He was doing, and began the work of prying open a heart that was determined to help only those who proved they had need.   

What this slow learner is learning is that God brings strangers into our midst not so so that we can judge them, or even to help them with some temporary solution to a problem, but because there is something about lives intersecting for the purposes of God.  When the idea that life is about chance and coincidence is thrown away, the only thing left that makes any sense is divine providence.  This slow learning disciple of Jesus is learning it is better to err on the side of generosity than the side of holding too tightly what is really not mine, but His.  These unknown folks who just show up on the road Jesus has put us are a part of God's plan just as we are as we walk with them.  They give us the opportunity to fulfill a part of God's plan in their lives even as they are used to fulfill a part of God's plan for us.