Perhaps against my better judgment I feel compelled to share the
following incident. FWIW I believe it is a truthful account.
A couple of years ago at one of those informal UFO meetings I attend
in the Milwaukee area I had an unusual conversation with a good
acquaintance of mine. I'll call him "Danny", not his real name. Danny
is a generous and gregarious fellow who often hosts these gatherings
at his humble abode. I've grown accustomed to visiting Danny and enjoy
catching up on the latest family matters. To my surprise I've
discovered that I really have enjoyed his company despite the fact
that he is, hands down, the most staunch conservative republican I
have ever encountered in my bleeding heart Liberal Democratic life. He
knows of my political predilections as well. By some miracle Danny and
I seem to have acquired an amusing way of poking fun at each other's
extremisms.
Danny possesses a spectacular satellite photo of the entire state of
Israel, as tall as my 5 foot 9 inch stature that proudly hangs on a
wall. His refrigerator is stuffed with dog-eared photos of republican
candidates he admires, including a few he had the privilege of
personally shaking hands with. Danny is in the business of commercial
Real Estate. His humble abode reveals the fact that his line of
profession has been very good to him and to his family. Perhaps
"humble abode" should be taken as a euphemism. Danny has lots of nice
expensive toys, and he enjoys sharing them with his guests.
It should come as no surprise to all that Danny is of the Jewish
faith. Very.
One evening Danny took me aside to tell me of an account he had just
gotten from his son who at that time was serving in the Israeli army.
I'll call him "Jimmy", not his real name. Jewish American born
citizens can share duel citizenship with Israel, and as such, can
serve in the Israeli army. Danny and his wife being the concerned
parents that they were, were worried about their son's safety, but
they didn't disapprove of his desire to protect Israel. Jimmy son went
to Israel and quickly got into the thick of things.
One particular account I was told happened when Jimmy, along with
several of his comrades were sweeping through a devastated
neighborhood recently reduced to rubble. During a brief lull in the
fighting Jimmy came across an open clearing where to his astonishment
in the center of the rubble was a rabbi holding protectively onto a
small child. It appeared as if the rabbi was trying to protect the
small child under his long black coat. Jimmy was astonished to find
these two individuals smack dab in the center of an extremely
dangerous environment. The Rabbi noticed Jimmy's presence and motioned
him to approach him. Jimmy complied, no doubt trying to figure out
where in the hell these two had come from, but worse, how in the hell
to get them safely out. Once face to face, the rabbi asked Jimmy if he
would take the small boy currently under his protective coat and out
of harm's way. The rabbi extended his hand. In his palm was some
money, the equivalent of around ten dollars. The rabbi apparently
wanted to give Jimmy money, to make it worth his time and effort.
Jimmy was incensed. He was outraged that a rabbi would attempt to
essentially bribe him, as if money would have been the only incentive
he needed to make sure a small helpless boy would be taken out of
harms way. Jimmy turned around to bark an order to one of his
comrades, but when he turned back to instruct the rabbi where the two
of them should be lead off to, both had disappeared. Jimmy had been
face to face talking with two extremely misplaced enigmas in his life,
and now they were nowhere in sight.
Jimmy knew instantly as sure as anything that he had just had a close
encounter with an angel. The encounter affected him profoundly. Later
in the week when he was once again in the middle of another deadly
fire fight and as he heard bullets whiz past his head he knew,
utterly, that he would be protected, that some kind of divine
providence was watching over him. Jimmy's parents when he called them
long-distance some time later were, of course, aghast at portions of
Jimmy's story, NOT that their son had had a close encounter with an
Angel, rather that Jimmy seemed so sure of himself that he was
"protected." Jimmy's parents weren't as convinced as Jimmy was that he
would make it out alive. His parent's were concerned that Jimmy,
because of his profound experience and subsequent conviction, might
not take proper precautions. But Jimmy did make it out alive,
fortunately. I subsequently saw Jimmy several times at these informal
UFO gatherings.
Several thoughts come to mind:
I find it interesting that Divine Intervention chose to ask Jimmy to
protect the small child. Why didn't Divine Intervention proceed to
protect the child themselves. Presumably Divine Intervention is
powerful enough to have done so.
Was Jimmy being protected
because he was special, that Divine Providence had seemingly smiled on
his presence? Perhaps, but then, maybe Jimmy was being divinely
protected in order to fulfill one of Divine Providence's objectives -
to live long enough to tell others of his close encounter.
Some of you may have noticed that I never mentioned whether the small
helpless boy the rabbi was protecting was of Israeli or Palestinian
descent.
