Angels in the Infield
By Doug Bing, Washington Conference president
A number of years ago, a movie came out called Angels in the Outfield.
It was a feel-good movie about the failing California Angels baseball team that could never win a game. In the movie, a boy saw real angels who were ready and willing to help this struggling baseball team. Soon, the team began winning while all sorts of funny little twists and turns took place. By the end of the movie, the team became the World Series champions and believe in themselves and their team again.
I have always liked the idea of angels.
Some of my favorite religious stories of my youth and adult life have been about angels showing up and helping people in times of needs. I love stories of angels that come to give messages to people in both biblical times and present day. I love stories of people being helped and when they turn to say thank you, no one is there as the angel has disappeared. I know people that have named their guardian angel and are looking forward to seeing them face to face in heaven.
Hebrews tells us,
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Psalms 34:7 tells us that
The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.
I remember claiming that promise when I was scared as a child. Truth be told, I have claimed that promise as an adult in tough situations.
What I really like however is what the angels are really trying to do. Notice this statement from Testimonies to the Church 6 p. 366.
Oh that we could all realized the nearness of heaven to earth! When the earthborn children know it not, they have angels of light as their companions. A silent witness guards every soul that lives, seeking to draw that soul to Christ. As long as there is hope, until men resist the Holy Spirit to their eternal ruin, they are guarded by heavenly intelligences.
Isn’t that great news? It’s like our angels are standing in the infield, always ready to catch the ball. Angels primarily are there to help us grow spiritually. They are there to point us to Jesus.
We know that bad things happen to people physically. Guardian angels don’t always stop it. However, angels are most interested in guarding us from evil and pointing us to Jesus. Guarding our spiritual lives from evil.
This week as you seek to grow in Christ, know that you have an angel that is there to silently—and sometimes not so silently—point you to Jesus. They are always in the infield to help us.