“Gabriel! Gabriel! I need you! Now!” spoke the Father.
“Yes, Father, what is it?” he answered.
“Go to Middleton Road. The Benson family needs help.”
“Yes, Father, as you wish.”
When Gabriel got to Middleton Road he understood why the Father had summoned him. A blizzard was in full force. The snow was already a foot deep and the wind was howling. Visibility was less than an eighth of a mile, and the roads were treacherous, to say the least.
“Father, I’m here.”
“They are coming. Watch for them,” came the reply.
Gabriel took refuge under a tree, pulled his hood up over his head, and watched the road. It was cold, bone-chilling cold. The wind was wicked, a snarling beast that swirled and blew the snow across the road, piling in large drifts.
“It’s cold!” he said while stomping his feet to restore circulation and pulling his knit cap down over his ears, “it must be twenty degrees or colder.”
In the distance, he could see the gleam of headlights. He knew it had to be the Bensons.
“Is that them?” he asked.
“Yes, it’s them,” came the reply.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Go to the edge of the road. You’ll know what to do.”
Gabriel pulled his hood tight and, facing the wind, began wading through the snow. It was tough going. He just barely had time to get there before the car crept up on him. He looked up and glanced at the car as it skidded to a stop beside him. The driver-side window rolled down and the man behind the wheel spoke.
“Mister! What in the world are you doing way out here in this storm?”
“I’m heading for town,” answered Gabriel.
“That’s eight miles away, you’ll freeze to death out here. Get in. I won’t have it on my conscience that I left you out here and you froze to death. Come on, get in,” he pleaded.
“Much obliged,” said Gabriel while getting in the back seat.
“Bad night to be out,” said the man, “we’re the Bensons. I’m Randall, this is my wife, Mary, and the boy beside you is Bobby.”
“Glad to meet you. My name is Gabriel.”
“You’re lucky we came along. We’ve been Christmas shopping. An Announcement came over the P.A. system that they were closing the mall because of the storm. It wasn’t doing this when we got there. Boy, were we surprised when we walked out the door. I knew it was supposed to snow. Thought it was coming in later tonight. The roads are bad. We’ve seen several vehicles off the road, either abandoned or in the side ditch. Thought we had better get home before they close the roads.”
“Good idea,” agreed Gabriel as he got comfortable. It was good to get in out of the weather. The heater was going full blast and it felt good.
Up ahead they could see a sharp bend in the road, there were trees on both sides of the road, and a forty- five mile per hour speed limit sign.
“Gotta be careful through here,” said Mr. Benson, “ sometimes a deer will jump out in front of you. See the speed limit sign? I’d have to speed up to reach that speed,” he laughed.
Gabriel knew this. That’s why he was here. He knew what was going to happen.
They were creeping along at thirty miles an hour, and even that seemed too fast considering the road conditions.
“Randall, please be careful,” urged Mary.
“I will honey,” he answered as they entered the curve.
Gabriel leaned over and took Bobby’s hand. Bobby tried to pull free, he glared at Gabriel and in the process looked to his mom for help. All of a sudden there was a dark form standing in the middle of the road. At that precise moment, Gabriel squeezed Bobby’s hand. In that split second time stood still. Bobby looked at his parents, and saw terror on their faces.
“Bobby, I want you to listen to me. Look at me, please. Look into my eyes.”
“Why,” he cried.
“Bobby, something terrible is going to happen.”
“What? What’s going to happen?” he cried.
“Bobby, tonight you are going to meet Jesus,” said Gabriel.
“I am? Really? I learned about Him in Sunday School. She said that He was God.”
“I know that,” said Gabriel, “do you remember her telling you about sin?”
“Uh huh, she said I was supposed to ask God to forgive me. I don’t know why, but I did it. Gabriel, I don’t understand it,” he said.
Gabriel silently spoke to the Father, “Does he know what sin is?”
The answer came quickly, “He has almost reached the age of accountability. I take that into consideration. I heard him asking for forgiveness of his sins. It was touching. I have a place prepared for him.”
“Thank you, Father, thank you for that. He is a gentle little boy.”
Gabriel again put his attention on Bobby’s face.
“Bobby, how old are you?” asked Gabriel. He already knew the answer. He wanted to prepare the boy.
“My birthday is coming. I will be six years old on Christmas day,” he answered.
“Bobby, God knows all about you. He was there when you asked for forgiveness.”
“He was? How do you know that?” he asked.
“Bobby, I’m an angel. God told me about you,” he answered.
“An angel! We have one on top of our Christmas tree. It has wings. Do you have wings?”
“No, not all of us have wings. Some of us look like your mom and dad,” answered Gabriel.
“Mommy and daddy? Will they meet Jesus tonight?”
“Bobby, I don’t know. I was sent here for you. Is that all right?”
“I guess so,” he answered.
“Bobby, hold my hand real tight.”
“Ok.”
At the precise moment, the split second was over and they hit the dark object in the road. Bobby’s dad lost control, swerved off the roads, barrel-rolled the car, and hit a tree.
Gabriel led Bobby from the wreckage, stopped in the middle of the road, and waited.
“Gabriel, what did we hit. It hurt really bad. Now it doesn’t hurt anymore. Where’s mommy and daddy?” he asked.
“We hit a black cow that got loose and wandered into the road. Bobby, I don’t know about your mommy and daddy.”
“Can we find them? Why am I not cold anymore? It was so cold when we left the store.”
“Bobby, don’t worry about that. Come with me. I want you to meet someone.”
“Who is it?”
“I think you know who,” answered Gabriel.
“Is it Jesus? You said I would meet Him tonight.”
“Bobby, look up into the sky.”
Bobby raised his face and saw a bright light. Inside that light, he saw his mommy and daddy being embraced by a man clothed in a white robe. The man looked at Bobby and motioned for him to come.
“Is that Jesus?” he asked.
“Yes, Bobby, that man is Jesus. Come with me. Let’s go home.”
December 22, 2021