I Saw an Angel and His Name was Tom

I Saw an Angel and His Name was Tom

Friday began as every day begins, with time in God's Word as I sat sleepily on my couch gazing out at the darkness of a Michigan morning. It's easy in my present circumstance to be drawn to passages that represent my feelings. On this day, I read from Psalm 119 where the Psalmist was crying out for God's mercy: Verse 25 "I am laid low in the dust; preserve my life...." and verse 39 "Take away the disgrace I dread...." and verse 58 "be gracious to me according to your promises.

I am called by God to be a pastor, but currently I am employed as a handyman which means I will attempt just about any household project. Most often I am successful but that success is tainted with the anxiety I feel going into it. Today I would be replacing someone's front door. I've done doors. Actually, I've gotten pretty good at doors thanks to my friend Marty who showed me the Jedi secrets of door hanging. But just replacing the door and not the jamb is rarely a good idea. The customer was insistent though, and like I said, I'll try anything.

It didn't go well. I took the door on and off probably eight times...whittling away at the jamb, whacking it with a hammer(one of the secrets) and Yes, I got it to fit, but it was not pretty. As I was cleaning up and lamenting the fact that it was less than perfect, a beat up old Ford Explorer pulled into the driveway. A big man got out and claimed that he was a friend of the owner and had actually worked with him for years. His name was Tom. Tom was a carpenter and jack of all trades until he blew six disks in his back by trying to catch a bay window that was falling.

He knew about the door that the owner wanted put on and had warned him of the same dangers that I did. It's very difficult to make it fit well. He looked at the project and said, "You did as well as you could under the circumstances. They should have gone with a pre-hung door, but if this is what they wanted, it's good."

You cannot imagine the elation I felt at his encouragement. Tom was just an ordinary guy who's struggling to live with a disability income, but God used him on Friday to encourage me when I needed it most. After he left, I just had to laugh. God didn't miraculously make the door slide into the opening. He didn't remove the struggle of 4 1/2 hours of whittling and whacking. But he did provide encouragement in the midst of the struggle. He provided an angel named Tom to come by at just the right time to say, "Good job!"

As we approach Christmas, thoughts of angels and the timing of the birth of Jesus enter our minds. Three Scriptures come to mind:

Galatians 4:4, "But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law..."

Hebrews 1:14, "Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?"

Hebrews 13:2, "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it."

God rarely removes us from our difficult circumstances but I believe he does provide the grace to handle them if we will cast all our cares upon him. And he calls us to participate with him, not only in our own lives, but in the lives of others. Who knows, an angel may show up today to encourage you, or you might be that angel to someone else.