How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? Perhaps we
will never know, but what or who are angels?
Angels (Greek, angelos) are messengers sent by God, man, or
even Satan. However, we mostly concern ourselves with those we
think of as being sent by God. Also, sometimes it seems that
there are people who could truly be considered angels that are
quite human.
A Las Vegas policman is probably not the kind of person you
would suspect of being an angel, but it appears that this may
have indeed been the case. Vern Faulstich was a policman by
profession but he also received messages about those who were in
need of help and he responded.
Late one night he woke his wife, Kathy, and told her of a
friend who he said was thinking of killing himself. He also
said that he would not be able to call the friend but would have
to wait for his friend to come to him. Just days later the
friend called to tell Vern of the problems he was having that
had lead him to contemplating suicide. Vern met several times
with his friend and helped the friend through this trying time
in his life. Vern’s wife, Kathy, said it was as if someone was
guiding Vern to know what to say and what to ask while he was
helping. Yet, not all of Vern’s cases of helping people were
straight forward.
Late one night in the 70’s, Vern awoke and told his wife
that he was supposed to “look for the boy with the rose.” He
didn’t know what this meant, but he set about to do what he was
asked. After several fruitless days Vern related to Kathy that
he was quite frustrated. Kathy said that Vern was expecting to
somehow run across a boy standing on a street corner holding a
rose, and this just wasn’t happening.
The next day Vern stopped at a coffee shop for lunch and
sat at the counter next to a surly young man. As the young man
reached across the counter Vern caught a glimpse of a rose
tattoo on his arm and he knew. He had found “the boy with the
rose.” Vern struck up a conversation which seemed to further
irritate the young man leading him to ask, “What’s your problem,
mister? You crazy or something?”
Vern responded, “I’ve been called crazy from time to time
alright, but right now I’m just here to help you.”
Their conversation continued and finally the young man
acknowledged that he had been contemplating killing himself.
Vern talked to the young man at great length telling him of his
belief regarding reincarnation. He told the young man that he
believed that you pick the life you come into to learn something
and to work some things out. Vern later related as they talked
the young man’s eyes got bigger and bigger. Eventually, the
young man told Vern that he could see that Vern really cared and
that made a big difference to him. As their conversation drew
to a close the two parted company at the coffee shop and Vern
never saw the young man again but hoped that he had done what he
had been asked to do.
Fifteen years later Vern was diagnosed with terminal cancer
and died at the age of 63. At his funeral a stranger came up to
Kathy to express his condolences and told her that if it hadn’t
been for Vern he wouldn’t be here with his wife and children.
As he reached out his hand to her, Kathy saw the rose tattoo on
his arm. Vern had been the young man’s angel.
Still other angels are not likely to be human. In January,
1981 young Chris Deal had just undergone a series of
chemotherapy for lymphatic leukemia, and the battle was not
going well. His wife, Melissa, related how his system was
completely devastated and he didn’t have the energy to get out
of the hospital bed, or even move. Yet, the night of January
4th a nurse woke Melissa as she dozed beside Chris’ bed. Chris
was missing.
He was not in his bed or anywhere else in the room. As
they began looking for Chris, Melissa noticed a glow coming from
a room at the end of the hall. She opened the door to find
Chris sitting in a small utility room, but he was not alone.
With him was a young man with very white skin and ice blue eyes.
The man was dressed in a flannel shirt, Levi’s and lace-up work
boots. And while he was young he seemed to have a look of
wisdom about him. Melissa could see that Chris wanted to be
alone with the young man so she closed the door and went back to
Chris’ room where Chris returned shortly thereafter.
Chris was more vibrant and healthy than he had been in
months. When asked by Melissa who the young man was he
responded with a look like, “You’re not going to believe this.”
Then he said the young man was his guardian angel.
It was as if Chris had been energized and he would visit
other people in the hospital and talk to them and encourage them
and help lift their spirits. Then three days later Chris
quietly passed away. His wife related that the angel didn’t
heal Chris’ body but that she felt he had healed Chris’ soul.
So, are angels or guardian angels real? I suppose it might
have something to do with perspective.
By way of background, my father, Ted, was 86 years old the
fall of 2005 and suffered from Parkinson's disease and
Neuropathy affecting his legs. As a result his ability to walk
was rather limited even when using a cane or walker. This was a
direct factor in three of the encounters which he related to me
in Nov. 2005. These all happened during the prior 12 months.
The first occurrence took place while my father was at the
cemetery visiting the grave of my mother, Theola, who passed
away Nov. 1, 2004. One afternoon dad drove out to the cemetery
to place flowers on mom's grave. Walking out to the grave site
was always a bit of a challenge for him, but dad succeeded in
getting there, placed the flowers and managed to get back to the
car. Unfortunately, as he tried to sit down on the car seat he
misjudged the distance and slid down the side of the car seat
and found himself sitting on the ground beside the car with his
legs out in front of him and under the open car door.
Now, under most circumstances, dad could get himself turned
over, get to his hands and knees and manage to get back up.
However, with his legs under the opened car door, there was not
enough room to turn over and he didn't have the strength in his
legs to manage to wiggle them out to a better position. Dad took
medication for Parkinson's, but his last pill was wearing off,
and he had not yet taken his next pill. He was stuck. In
addition, he noted it was almost 5 pm which is when the cemetery
closes. So, he sat there hoping that someone would notice before
they locked him in the cemetery for the night.
After sitting there a few minutes a rather large husky man
with two children walked up from behind the car and asked, "Can
I help you?"
Dad quickly explained his predicament and the man picked
him up and set him on the seat of the car. The man then asked if
he would be OK to drive and dad explained that he would be OK
now and could definitely get home fine. As dad buckled his seat
belt the man and the two kids walked toward the back of the car.
Once dad had his seat belt fastened he looked back to see where
the man had gone but he was simply nowhere to be seen. It is
several hundred feet from where the car was parked to any exit
or anything that could obstruct someone from view. The man and
the two kids were simply gone.
A few months later dad drove down to the post office to
mail a letter. Tulare is a small town where there is no parking
lot for the post office. You just parallel park on the street in
front of the building. This time, however, dad parked a little
farther from the curb than he would have liked. After scooting
to the passenger side of the car and opening the door he saw he
was too far from the curb to step directly onto the sidewalk.
There was a sign post on the sidewalk that dad was thinking of
using to help him make the large step, but the post was just out
of reach. Compounding the problem, the gutter was full of water.
Dad was contemplating what to do when a large bearded man
walked up and asked, "Can I help you?"
Dad explained his predicament and the large bearded man
told him that was no problem whereupon he picked dad up and set
him on the sidewalk. Dad thanked him and turned to shut the car
door before going into the post office. When he turned back the
large bearded man was nowhere to be seen, but dad figured he had
probably just gone into the post office so he went on inside to
mail his letter and buy some stamps. While inside he looked
around and noted that the large bearded man was nowhere to be
seen. He thought this was odd, but went about his business.
When he left the building, dad decided to walk a little way
down the sidewalk where there was a wheelchair ramp. He figured
that, by using the ramp, he would be able to walk up to the car
on the driver side without having to deal with the curb.
However, when he got to the ramp he found it was also full of
the water that was running down the gutter.
He was standing there looking at the water and trying to
decide if he should wade through it or try something else when
the same large bearded man walked up and again asked, "Can I
help you?"
Dad was surprised to see the large bearded man again, but
explained his problem. The large bearded man said that would be
no problem and said, "Let me give you a hand." About that time
another smaller man walked up on the other side and said, "I'll
give you a hand too." The two men each grabbed dad by an arm,
carried him over the water and walked him up to the car and
helped him get in. Dad thanked them, closed the door and buckled
his seat belt. Then he looked around to see where the two men
had gone and they were nowhere to be seen.
Later dad asked the minister of his church whether the
minister believed there were Guardian Angels. The minister's
response was, "Absolutely!" He continued, "Guardian Angels are
here to help when we can't help ourselves."
So were those men Guardian Angels? Regardless of how they
might have gotten there, they sure fit the minister's
definition.
