In 2008 doctors found one small block in an artery of my
heart. It was too small to fix. In 2012 I started to have increased symptoms of
a blocked ticker. I tried to get in to been seen by the VA but was only
ignored. Two years later the symptoms got bad enough that I finally went back
to my civilian doctor. He put me straight in for an angiogram. We expected that
the one block had gotten bad enough that it could now be ballooned open. As
expected it had become 80% closed. What was not expected was that the other two
arterial branches were also blocked at 90 – 95%. My heart was a time bomb with
little time left on it. There was no option but to have open heart bypass.
As I was wheeled off to recovery the doctor went out to talk
to my wife. She did not take the news well. It filled her with fear and worry
and she was a mess of uncontrollable emotion. Then at her side appeared a man.
He was shabby in appearance, almost looking homeless. He was holding a bible in
his hand. He told my wife not to worry, that everything was going to be
alright. Then he asked if he could pray
with her for a while. When she wasn’t looking the man slipped away and she
never saw him again.
True to his word my surgery went without a hitch. I was up
and walking in the ICU just hours after leaving recovery. Everyone was amazed how
the life returned to my face. I healed quickly
and without complication. I was given a reprieve, a second chance at living
past fifty.
The man in the waiting room, I have no doubt that he was an
angel. An angel, by definition, is nothing more than a messenger. In celestial
form an angel is a servant of God. They are pure spirits who occasionally are
allowed to take human form to perform a task. We are assured by Holy Scripture
that each of us has a guardian angel whose job it is to watch over us and guide
our way to heaven. So was this guy a celestial angel sent to calm my wife or
just a good guy with nothing better to do than hang around a hospital waiting
room looking for someone to comfort? You can decide that for yourself. As for
me, he provided my wife the comforting words she needed to hear and that makes
him a gift from God either way.
