Filling in for an Angel

This was written by a Hospice of Metro Denver physician ....

I just had one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and wanted to share it with

 my family and dearest friends:

I was driving home from a meeting about 5, stuck in traffic on Colorado Blvd., when the

car started to choke and splutter and die. I barely managed to coast, into a gas station,

glad only that I would not be blocking traffic and would have a somewhat warm spot to

 wait for the tow truck. The car's engine wouldn't even turn over.

Before I could make the call, I saw a woman walking out of the "quickie mart" building;

it looked like she slipped on some ice and fell into a gas pump, so I got out to see if

she was okay.

When I got there, it looked more like she had been overcome by sobs than that she had

fallen; she was a young woman who looked really haggard with dark circles under her

eyes. She dropped something as I helped her up, and I picked it up to give it to her. It

 was a nickel.

At that moment, everything came into focus for me: the crying woman, the ancient

Suburban crammed full of stuff with 3 kids in the back (1 in a car seat), and the gas pump

reading $4.95.

I asked her if she was okay and if she needed help, and she just kept saying "I don't

want my kids to see me crying."

So it was that we stood on the other side of the pump from her car. She said she was

driving to California and that things were very hard for her right now. So I asked, "And

 you were praying?"

That made her back away from me a little, but I assured her I was not a crazy person

and said, "He heard you, and He sent me."

I took out my credit card and swiped it through the card reader on the pump so she could

fill up her car completely. While it was fueling I walked to the next door McDonald's and

bought two big bags of food, some gift certificates for more, and a big cup of coffee.

She gave the food to the kids in the car, who attacked it like wolves, and we stood by

the pump eating fries and talking a little.

She told me her name, and that she lived in Kansas City. Her boyfriend left two months

ago and she had not been able to make ends meet. She knew she wouldn't have money

to pay rent Jan 1, and in desperation had finally called her parents, with whom she had

not spoken in about five years. They lived in California and said she could come live with

them and try to get on her feet there.

So she packed up everything she owned in the car. She told the kids they were going to

California for Christmas, but not that they were going to live there. But the journey was

taking longer and costing more than she'd anticipated.  Her parents were wiring her gas

and lodging money but it hadn't come through yet.

This definitely made me cry. I said, "Sweetie, at this time of year angels are really busy,

 so sometimes God uses regular people."

It was so incredible to be a part of someone else's miracle.

And of course, you guessed it, when I got in my car it started right away and got me

home with no problem. I'll put it in the shop tomorrow to check, but I suspect the mechanic

won't find anything wrong.

Sometimes the angels fly close enough to you that you can hear the flutter of their wings...

Psalms 55:22 "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee He shall never

suffer the righteous to be moved."

(EDITORS NOTE: Our vetting efforts indicate that this story was indeed written by a

physician associated with hospice of Metro Denver circa 2005. Snopes.com does note,

however, its similarity to various panhandling scams. The principal difference here is

that the physician observed a situation and volunteered to intervene; there was no solicitation.