This is a story about an angel on wheels.
The year was 1978. Nicaragua was submerged in the chaos of a civil war. It was unsafe to be out and about during the day, and the situation was even worse at night. However, that didn’t stop Esperancita and her boyfriend from going to church. That Sabbath morning, he rode his motorcycle across town and picked her up early. The plan was to spend the whole day at church.
After the afternoon service was over, they got on the motorcycle to drop Esperancita off at her house. She lived across town, and dusk was setting in. Feeling a little uneasy about their safety on the way to her house, and unsure if they’d meet a dangerous situation or several, they decided to go on their way.
Midway through their journey, they found themselves in trouble…
Cars were driving in the opposite direction, and there were people out in the street warning the incoming traffic to turn around because there was a shooting going on between civilians and cops ahead. “There’s a shooting going on, and they’re burning cars!”
Suddenly, a stranger appeared on a motorcycle. Without much introduction, He asked them where they were headed, and then instructed them to follow him. “I know a way,” he said.
What do you think you would have done in a situation like this?
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.
Although they felt a little apprehensive, they didn’t question the stranger’s orders and they followed him. When the stranger took a turn through a shortcut they didn’t know, they felt even more nervous, but remembered the promise in Psalm 34: 7 “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them”.
The stranger took them through a dark and solitary field, surrounded by tall grass right and left, with no houses, people, or streetlamps around. They prayed fervently as they made their way through this unknown territory by faith.
After following the stranger on the motorcycle for thirty minutes, which seemed like an eternity, lights suddenly appeared in front of them. They met with a housing unfinished housing project. The stranger had guided them safely to the other end of town. The stranger stopped and told them that they could go on their way now. Esperancita’s Bible fell off her lap as he told them this. As she and her boyfriend bent down to pick it up, they heard the stranger’s motorcycle take off. As they looked up the stranger was gone. The strangest thing is that they were in an open field, yet the stranger was nowhere to be seen or heard.
They never saw his face, never knew his name. Whether the stranger on the motorcycle was an angel on wheels or not, they don’t know. However, Esperancita and her now husband know that the Lord sent his angels to protect them and guide them to safety that night.
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