every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings

I'm really beginning to wonder if the man who helped us yesterday was a true and real angel. As my husband and I discussed last night, there are just a few things that don't quite add up to us. Intrigued? Allow me to set the stage.

Hubs is an usher at our church and a friend picked him up early for church. I drove the kids in our car (as opposed to our van) because it gets better gas mileage and we were giving the van a break. On the way to church, the car sounded weird, almost like an airplaine was hovering over it. We got to church safely and all was fine. By the way, it had started snowing before I left for church.
After church, we headed home but Hubs thought we should have a treat and eat out for lunch. So, we turned around to head another way and realized the sound in the car was getting worse and we needed gas. We stopped at a gas station and he also wanted to pop the hood and see what was going on with car. Entering the scene, is this man, we'll call Tom. When Hubs was trying to open the hood (it was frozen shut), Tom came over and helped him pound on the hood to get it open. Before they got it open, he said, sounds like the water pump. And indeed it was. Tom then offered to follow us home in case we broke down because both Hubs and Tom thought we only had a few miles left before the car wouldn't drive.
Hubs asked him if he knew any good mechanics in the area because Tom had said he lived 4 house down. Tom only knew of one that he trusted and we followed him to the mechanic. We found out after chatting with the mechanic that he used to go our church but moved and is going somewhere closer to his own home and that several people in our church go to this guy. Yup, they were Christians. Coincidental? Maybe.

Here's what doesn't add up:

Tom seemed to be waiting for us. When Hubs went in to prepay for gas, there was an older woman in front of him who bought two $100 gift cards and overpaid for the gas that was pumped, at which pump? Tom's. Hubs thought that was a bit strange. So basically Tom and this older woman were ahead of us, had finished getting gas and yet he stayed until after Hubs had pumped gas and came right over to help him.

He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and jeans. No coat, scarf, gloves, or hat. I looked it up, the reported temperature during that time yesterday was 0 degrees and it was snowing like crazy. He never once gave any indication that he was cold. He seemed completely impervious to it. Getting goosebumps yet?

Tom also asked us to wait and he was going to take this woman home first, remember, he lived 4 houses down? So we waited in the parking lot for him to come back and I can tell you, he wasn't gone long at all. He was back by the time Hub had finished scraping the windshield. Oh and I must mention that I watched where he pulled out and there's a median there and on the way back he would've had to wait at a traffic light. Man, he wasn't gone long.

Who comes over to not only help get your hood open but also looks under the hood, offers to follow you home and takes an older woman home first and comes back and leads you to a good mechanic you can trust AND isn't some psycho freak trying to rob or harm you? Seriously, good Samaritans like this are sadly few and far between.

Another thing, why did we feel like we could trust him? We had total peace about it.

So how did we get home? We called some friends to come pick us up and they graciously drove us home in a snowstorm.

Tom? He went on his way. We thanked him and told him, "God bless you" and his reply,"The same to you."

It doesn't really matter if he was a real angel or not because he certainly was to us.

I discovered this new version of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" by Casting Crowns recently. It just fits.

(Also, check out this link for a little history lesson on the poem "Christmas Bells" which was the original title of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.)

We thanked the Lord for His goodness and protection and for this man, "Tom" who ministered to us in a very special way.

We may all pray for peace on earth but we definitely sensed it yesterday and we know for sure that goodwill toward men is alive and well.