Calling All Angels

Special note: if you have not yet read yesterday's blog entry please do so before you read the following.

Before I posted yesterday's entry I had told Ben's nurse, Lisa, what I intended to write about. After talking about it a little while she asked if she could send the entry to a friend of hers just to see what he thought. I was like, "sure! Maybe we'll get a new reader out of the inquiry." Well we got far more than we thought. Read on.

E-Mail from Lisa this morning:
Bennie, I sent a copy of yesterday's blog over to my friend, Tony. He is a very wise Christian. I trust that anything he says about Bible stuff is actually in the Bible!!! He doesn't make stuff up for any reason, he's the most honest person I've ever met! So, here it is:

Lisa,
At last night's prayer meeting Pastor Mark mentioned that spiritual men sometimes cry. While I have a very compassionate heart, my background and maybe even my years of police work has hardened me somewhat. There are many times when my heart cries, but very rarely does any tears come. However, early this morning, around 4:00AM the Lord woke me us as he has done many times before wanting to talk. I have grown to love these times for many reasons. They tend to nourish me and calm my spirit. After a couple of hours of quality time with God, I went to the office early. Upon reading your email, I noticed actual tears dripping from my face. What a joyful way to start a day - Thanks!

Now to the answers. God does send our loved ones to us. Children like Ben are more receptive to seeing and talking with them. And he needs them more and as such, they are dispatched to him frequently. Yes, Angels are the prime method that God uses, but there are times when "Saints" are used for such purposes. While I can tell you that I have had more than my fair share of "Angel Interventions" I have also a number of times when I felt that saints were close by.

God's word tells us that the saints can see us. I'm not sure of the exacts and I don't think anyone else is. It's one of those mysteries that we will learn the extent of when we are in heaven and have "perfect knowledge" as promised. For now, I can absolutely assure you that God is not at rest. He uses all methods to meet his purposes and Ben's ancestors are certainly among the list of resources he would use to calm Ben's spirit.

Samuel was an especially talented prophet. So much so that King Saul (the first king of Israel) counted on his advice before going into any battles. After Samuel died, Saul went into battle and asked the witches of Endor to raise Samuel for his advice one more time. Which they did (to Samuel's displeasure). Samuel did return to tell Saul that his battle would be lost and both he and his son would be killed that day. So, there is evidence that the dead can return. But........ Saul was very wrong in using sorcery to return Samuel to this world.

One point of this story is not to count on sorcery for consulting. God wants 100% of our trust to be in him. And he has a higher level of anger for anyone who does not use faith in him to plan their lives. Ben is receptive to things we are not and wow what a blessing that is. He has a deeper relationship than we can ever have. While I have never met him, the Lord touched my heart this morning with some visions about him. Ben is seeing things we can not.

I have prayed to see these things and I have not as yet seen the things he sees. They are his comfort. But, they are also sent to comfort his family and loved ones. Not through seeing them, but through the knowledge that Ben is getting special attention.

This story alone must be spread. It sends hope to the hopeless. Don't try to understand or dissect this phenomena. Instead thank God for it. Who Ben is seeing is not clear. It could be Angels which I am sure he sees often. Or it could be a sainted ancestor. But, it also could be the face of Jesus himself. Actually, I believe it is a combination of all three at different times.

Ben's dad also had a blessing. He knew what was happening and he was so close that the breath of Christ himself breathed on him. Wow! This will happen again I assure you. Please pass my words to this family and also my prayers. While they have some stressful times, these kind of moments are so very valuable.

Ben's story must be told. Christ has others who need his touch. Channels that Ben makes available are the best ways to reach the hurting. His story (stories) need to permeate the culture of the hopeless. Quoting the exacts of how and where these kind of things happen in God's word is not important. Instead, the important thing is to understand the ways our Lord works through our lives. None of us can say specifically how saints and Angels are used. But we can say that with Christ all things are possible. His smiling down on Ben in the dark that night is easy for me to see. And I bet he called a few Saints to visit with him.

Chances are what Ben was seeing (and conversing with) was a lot of people. That's the way our Lord works. He uses all resources! Also that night Ben's family was also visited. What their eyes did not see, their hearts felt. Even those who were asleep were touched. You simply can't get that close to Christ without it rubbing off on even those in the deepest of sleeps!

Angels never leave Ben. There is one or more assigned to all of us for our entire lives. Nor does the Holy Spirit ever leave him. Be assured of that. But there are many hurting souls who don't have the Holy Spirit. That is a tragedy and Ben and his families story is a step in reaching those. God bless you for sharing this with me. Today, I may have lost some sleep, but my heart is beating stronger than ever!

Tony S.

Now, I want to say that besides the fact that we were blown away by this response we (Joan and I) also see this as verification of what has been suspected by us since Ben's earliest days. We also know there are frequent readers here that have differing religious views than our family. Despite that fact our hope is that you embrace this information as a comforting thought particularly, for those who are raising an exceptional child.

I don't think a family can raise an exceptional loved one without acknowledging a Higher Power; a Supreme Being with a master plan. Whether you choose to ignore It, be angry with It, or come to terms with It is another matter. Joan and myself have had our own faith demolished to its foundation. Those that have read the blog since the beginning know that we both had become quite agnostic at one point. And regardless of the situation at hand we know that we will once again someday question God and His motives.

All I can say is that for now, a little boy who can barely speak and express himself, who cannot stand or even sit up on his own, who has faced greater challenges in 8 years than I will in my entire life time, who stares at the ceiling at night and talks to it has convinced his mother and dad beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is in control. No teacher, preacher, priest, rabbi, imam or anyone else for that matter has ever been able to do that. Absolutely amazing!

Calling All Angels by Train