We've all heard the stories about how people claim to have been saved by a guardian angel. For years I never really bought into this notion that someone is actually watching over us, that we all have an angel making sure we don't die before our time is up here on earth. There've been several movies depicting the idea of guardian angels like, It's a Wonderful Life, The Preachers Wife, Heart and Soul, Always, and The Family Man.
It's a Wonderful Life is my all-time favorite and a must watch every Christmas Eve. The plot is based off the idea that a guardian angel (Clarence) is trying to earn his wings by showing George Bailey how fortunate he has been during the course of his lifetime and how important George has been to so many people within the town of Bedford Falls, NY.
Like George, so many of us take for granted the impact we have on family and friends. We forget that each of us leaves a lasting impression of both good and bad. We don't realize how much we help shape the lives of those around us.
But occasionally God shows us through a life experience that maybe there really is someone (an angel) watching over and protecting us in ways we might not recognize at the time.
This happened to me one evening in the mid 1990's while working for a company called Holloway Sportswear. My job at this time required me to travel daily to six different factories all across Louisiana. Travel time averaged about two to four hours per day depending on the location I was going to on a particular day. The daily drives were the worst part about the job, but the good far outweighed the bad when it came to the job overall.
One evening as I was leaving one of the factories, I hit the road for what was only about a forty-minute drive home. About halfway home, something told me to buckle up. Now this (the mid 90's) was at a time when there was a push nationwide to always buckle up. Well, me being in my mid-thirties and bullet proof, I resisted this movement with a passion. I hated someone trying to mandate that everyone must buckle up!
But it was during the drive home that day that I heard the words, "Buckle up!" Normally these words would have been met with resistance. But on this particular day, there was something different about this voice and without hesitation I grabbed the seat belt and buckled up. For some weird reason it wasn't even an afterthought. One minute later I was involved in a head on collision and rolled my car four times off into the woods. I remember the initial collision but was knocked unconscious upon impact. I was awake again as the car came to a rest upside down.
Fortunately, no one was seriously injured which was a miracle in itself! One witness, who had a front row seat to this accident, said he did not want to come to my car because he knew I was dead. After being checked over and released from the local hospital, I went home where it hit me just how lucky I was to survive such a crash.
Then I began to break everything down and analyze what had happened. I asked myself, "What made me buckle up? Why and who was that voice telling me to grab the seat belt and buckle up?" This was intriguing, especially since I was THAT GUY who never liked to buckle up, who literally hated someone telling me what was best for me!
This is when I knew that there was something of a higher power at work here. It was my guardian angel who made sure that my time here on earth was not up yet, that there was a bigger plan for me than what I had realized.
Sometimes it takes a life experience to confirm that there really is someone out there looking over our shoulders and making sure we are taken care of. Even when we think we are in control, we're not!
So, the next time you hear that little voice in your head telling you to do something that might be in your best interest....listen!
Steve Graf
Angler's Perspective
