By: Dr. Jerry Bergman
Montpelier, Ohio
Many stories exist of strangers who appear out of nowhere, help someone in need, then disappear, never to be seen again.
One theory is that they are materialized angels or somebody who learns of a tragedy, travels over to help, then leaves. Stories of human-form angels appearing, offering help, then vanishing, are a core part of spiritual folklore and modern testimonies.
They are often called “unaware angel” encounters, referencing the Biblical concept of humans entertaining angels without knowing it. “The Stranded Motorist” event involves a woman driving alone on a deserted highway at night during a severe blizzard.
Then her car has a flat tire, and her cell phone is dead. Then, out of the blinding snow, a man in a light jacket appears who does not seem affected by the freezing cold. He silently and quickly changes her tire. The woman gets out of her car to thank him and offer him money.
She does not see anyone and the road is completely empty. She looks for footprints in the fresh snow, but sees none. The next day she drives to the car dealer. Sure enough, in her trunk is a tire that is clearly damaged.
One of the most interesting “unaware angel” encounter stories was related to me years ago. I remember it as if she told me the account yesterday, so I will let her tell it.
After a severe rainstorm, a large limb of an old tree on our property broke and, although still attached to the tree, appeared to be ready to fall on my large, closed-in porch.
So, my daughter and I threw a rope around the tree in a failed attempt to pull the limb away from the house so it would fall to the ground, not on my porch.
About this time, along came a man in a leather coat driving a motorcycle, who pulled up near where we were standing. He then asked, “Can I help you?” “Sure can. I need some help to ensure this heavy limb doesn’t crash onto my porch.”
The motorcyclist then hooked the rope ends that was looped around the tree to his motorcycle, and his bike pulled the limb out of the way of the house and crashed down on the ground. Grateful for his help, I asked him if he would like to have a meal.
“Sure would, and thank you for asking. I have not had a meal in a day or so, so I am very hungry.” He then came into the house to relax as I prepared a good meal. My daughter, curious about this man and his bike, went outside to inspect his motorcycle, an expensive, immaculate chrome-covered Harley-Davidson.
While admiring the bike’s chrome, she looked in the saddlebags located in the back of the bike. They were empty! Our new friend noted her snooping and only said, “It would be nice to have something to put in the bags.”
I looked around and noted a glazed ceramic figurine of a dog that belonged to my son. I pointed at it and mentioned that it once belonged to my son. I then asked him if he would like the ceramic figurine. “You have a son?” He asked.
“I would like to meet him.” “Unfortunately, he was killed in an automobile accident. Both my son and husband died in that accident that occurred over five years ago.” “I am very sorry to hear that,” he answered.
“My husband had a drinking problem and took too many chances driving, which resulted in my losing both my son and husband. But I would like you to have this small glazed image of his dog,” I said as I passed it over to him. He accepted it gratefully, adding, “I, too, had a dog that I loved dearly, a cocker spaniel which looked very much like this one.”
After our conversations about his travels, and where he hoped his next meal would come from, he gave my daughter and me warm hugs.
After saying thank you for the meal and the company, he said goodbye, went outside, started his bike, hopped on it, and I watched as he rode off into the distance on the dirt road in front of my house.
His image became smaller and smaller until I could no longer see him. When he was gone I felt sad. I have never seen him since, but I think about him often.
His comment about his dog caused me to realize that he looked very much like my son would have looked if he had lived for five years after the accident.
My son also had dreamed of someday owning a Harley just like the one sitting in our yard that afternoon. To this day, I have wondered, was this a dream? Or did it really happen?
It’s not like I, as a woman, was caught in a snowstorm and ran out of gas, and then some guy just happened to drive by with a plastic can full of gas in his trunk to save me.
My issue was comparatively minor, except it did bring him into my life for a few short memorable hours.
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Dr. Bergman is a multi-award-winning professor and author. He has 9 degrees and has taught at both the graduate and undergraduate level for over 40 years. His over 2,100 publications are in both scholarly and popular journals. Dr. Bergman’s work has been translated into 15 languages. He has spoken over 2,000 times to college, university and church groups in America, Canada, Europe, the South Sea Islands, and Africa. He lives in Montpelier and is available to present in churches and schools. Jerry can be reached at JerryBergman30@yahoo.com Bergman’s website is: https://crev.info/author/jbergman/
