Emmaus Road International

FOUR ANGELS TO OUR RESCUE!

Our team of eight was traveling by train to deliver New Testaments to a minority group in a restricted country. The books were in their own language instead of the main language of the country, which most of them couldn't read. We had packed the books, along with some useful gifts, like vitamins, in the bags. As you can imagine, books make bags very heavy. We were traveling by train instead of flying for two reasons: it was a lot cheaper and we could carry heavier loads on the trains, due to no weight restrictions. We had already gone nearly half way by train from where we started, which was inside the country, but the first train was much easier to access than this next train. To board the second train, we had to carry our heavy bags up 2 flights of stairs, in a mass of people who were in a big hurry and in a culture where it is not considered rude to push & crowd in ahead of other people. It wasn't like we could use both hands to pull the big heavy bag because we also had a carryon size roller bag with books & personal things packed in it. And, we had heavy backpacks on, with books & personal things.  We had deliberately mixed our personal clothes and other belongings with the books to try to distribute the weight as much as possible. Another very important reason was for safety - if the bags would be opened by security personnel, hopefully the clothes and personal things on top and mixed in would not look as suspicious as it would look to have only books! 

The gate opened and the mad rush began. So, we started up the stairs, but it only took about two steps for me to know that the weight of these bags, along with the crush of other people on both sides and from behind made it a near impossible feat! What was I going to do?! The two men on the team were very strong and one of them managed to help me with one hand and the other man on the team helped Donna. The men each had their personal carryon bag strapped to their own big bag. But what was happening with the other four women?! It was a very stressful situation, believe me! I was not only dealing with my own situation, but I was very concerned about the other four women! What was happening to them?!

Well, we all made it into our train compartment, thankfully! But how? was the question! After we were on the train and in one of our compartments, here is what Susan told us: "I was struggling and thinking that there was no way that I could possibly do this! What was I going to do?! I was breathing a silent prayer of desperation, then suddenly my bag felt light! I turned & saw that an Asian man in a dark business suit had picked up the bottom of my roller bag and was carrying it with me. When I finally reached the top of the second flight of stairs, I turned to him and said Thank You! He nodded & smiled & disappeared into the crowd."  

As soon as Susan shared that, the other three women each looked in amazement at her and at each other! Because exactly the same thing had happened at the same time to each of them, but they had not had time to share it yet! As each woman had been struggling with their heavy bags on the crowded stairs, thinking, "There is no way I can do this!" an Asian man in a dark business suit had picked up the bottom of their bag and was carrying it with them!  None of these four "men" had any bag of their own nor even a briefcase, as any person would normally have when boarding a train on a long trip. Plus nobody in that country ever got on a train going on a long trip in a business suit! They were all described in exactly the same way, each one, just nodding & smiling and disappearing into the crowd after reaching the top of the stairs! We all believed that they must have been angels!  Asian looking angels in business suits!

Because at the top of the stairs it only led to one platform with one train there, we decided to each walk the entire length of the train, one at a time to see if we could recognize the man who helped us. Or if there would be any man in a dark business suit on the train. No, there was not. We didn't really expect to see any of them, but it further confirmed that God had sent an angel to help each one of us in our desperate need! God does supply our needs in most unexpected ways! We read about angels in the Bible, but most of us don't really expect to encounter them - but we surely believed that we did that day!