A Snow Angel on the Interstate

“I saw her. I talked to her. I put antifreeze in her car, for Heaven’s sake!”

It may have indeed been for Heaven’s sake, the unexplainable day our Pastor encountered her.

Pastor B., as we all have called him for years, is one of the most down to earth, realistic and reliable men in all of St. Louis. If he tells us something, we believe it; which is why we had to believe that his “angel story" was true. He and his wife and two daughters on their day-long drive “back east” for Christmas, had pulled off the interstate to fill up with gas. The family had gone in the convenience mart to purchase snacks while Pastor B. was left out in the falling snow to service the car. As he walked to the front to scrape the windshield, he saw an older car at the next pump with the hood up. Noticing it was an elderly woman, he walked over to see if she needed help. She told him she was trying to find the place to fill the fluid for her windshield wipers. Of course Pastor B. had his ready supply in his own car and had her ready to leave in no time.

This elderly gray-haired lady with a blue scarf encircling her face had no way of knowing our Pastor and family were going through a tough transition time with an important decision to be made. He had shared with us many times how he needed prayer just to get the clear “go ahead, or not” from God. Being a man of wisdom and discernment, he is one who never made split second, reckless decisions about anything – much less about this million dollar expansion program to reach thousands of more needy folks in the community.

As he closed the hood for her, he began to head back to his own car to put the now half full windshield fluid container back. The snow was now really coming down. He was totally unprepared for what happened next. With the strength of a man, the woman whirled him back around and gripped him squarely by the shoulders, drawing him to her, face to face. With steel-gray eyes, looking straight into his soul, she slowly and simply said, “Get ready for what God has ready for you.” Taking this perhaps as a “sign” Pastor B. said, “Would you wait here just a second while I get my wife so she can hear that too?” He turned to run into the mart to get his wife and daughters, but they were already coming out of the door. “Girls come here! I want you to hear what this lady…”

In just a split second he turned back around to point out the sweet elderly lady he had just helped, but was simultaneously hearing from his family, “What lady?” “Dad, are you OK?” Not only was there no lady, there was no car, and no tire tracks on the fresh snow leading out to the interstate. There were no other cars.  Pastor B., still holding the half filled wiper fluid jug, ran over to see if there was a wet place where he had poured thr fluid into her car, and examined closely again for any sign of tire tracks. Nothing. Pastor B. said he had always thought he would know an angel when he saw one. Now he wasn’t sure what he saw. However, he was very sure of what he had heard; and he thanked God, right then, right there with his family  wondering if his brain had frozen! Several months later, the expansion nearing completion, more than 2,000 members of all ages, races, and backgrounds come together in the two Sunday morning services. We too have learned to live in great expectation, that angels can appear any time, any place, and in the least expected way.

Dr. Debra Peppers, a professional speaker for 25 years, is one of only five inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame, which followed her retirement from Lindbergh High School. A member of the National Speakers Association, she has traveled to all 50 states and 60 countries teaching others that if she can go from being a 250-pound high school dropout, to Teacher of the Year there is hope for every child and adult. Her web site is www.pepperseed.org.