ANGEL GROUND

“Well, glory be,” used to be a popular phrase when a person was amazed at a current event. In today’s world it’s not such a popular exclamation. I kind of like it, so that’s a good phrase for me to refer to relating to an event that happened in my life lately. Several months previously to the “glory be” event I was standing in my front yard talking to the agent for the company I employ to spray my lawn three times a year hoping to eradicate weeds. He has done a good job, so I thought I would inquire of Clayton, the man who does the spraying, if he had any knowledge on how to get rid of the hive of bees which took up residence in my huge oak tree. The bees chose a knot in a limb that had previously been cut off, deciding that their new home would be in my tree. One man had previously offered to remove the bees for $800 but that ridiculous price made me laugh. Another man told me that, unless they were bothering me, to just leave them alone and they will move to another location soon. Sounded good to me, but I thought I would ask Clayton’s advice. He didn’t have anything to offer me relating to bees except a few bee stories. Clayton is always full of stories. While we were standing in my yard discussing the bees with me listening to one of Clayton’s stories, a pickup stopped in front of my house and a young, well groomed young lady got out and came up to me and asked if I needed help in cutting the limb off from the tree that was visible from the street. I told her that I needed to get rid of the bees in the tree because they live on the same limb but closer to the trunk. She admitted that it might be dangerous to disturb the bees since it was summertime and they were enjoying their many sources of nectar from the colorful blooming summer flowers in my huge yard. The young lady handed me a card and told me that when I decided to have work done on the tree to call her for an estimate. She got back in the pickup with her husband who was driving. A few days later Christy, the tree trimming young lady, called and said that she had called the County Extension office and talked to a person who knew about bees and he gave her the names of three men who are bee keepers who might want to collect my bees to add to their collection of hives. She told me that the County Extension manager had said that I must not pay the bee keeper whom I chose to collect the bees because it’s a service of the agency. Sounded good to me. So Christy read off three names and I wrote them down. One of the names sounded familiar. I looked through my notes and the name was the same name of the man who wanted $800 to collect the bees. Needless to say, I didn’t call that guy. But I did call another name on the list and he said that if the bees were high in the tree and they had not reacted to my mowing under the tree already that they would not be a problem for me. I chose to believe him because I had moved under and around the same tree for months without incident. I was impressed with Christy and her business tactics. She didn’t need to go to the trouble to get information for me about the bees, but she did. Right then I decided that when fall came that I might use her and her husband to do the trimming work on several of my trees. When time came to get the trees trimmed, I thought seriously about whom to call. In the past I had used a popular local tree trimmer and knew he was good. The only negative was that everybody uses him and it might take months for him to get around to me. I thought about Christy and her husband and their Helping Hands business and decided to call them for an estimate. Christy and Tony came a few days after I called them and gave me an estimate for trimming four trees. The estimate was low and I was tempted to accept right then but I thought I might be wise to get other estimates. However, I had noticed something very unusual about Tony. I noticed that he was so respectful and loving toward Christy that it was a shock to me. He looked at each tree, told me where he would cut the offending limb and then he would ask Christy’s advice about his suggestion. Most of the time she agreed. Two times she had other ideas and Tony acquiesced to her suggestion, admitting that she was right. He was gentle and loving toward her. It was such a pure and trusting love toward her that I was in awe. It was like a scene out of a "chick movie," as my hubby used to call them. After they left, I fully intended to call two other men and request estimates. I just couldn’t make myself call other men because I was so astounded with Tony’s love and respect for Christy that I kept thinking that they deserved to have the job. Christy’s idea to call the County Extension office for me was beyond the call of duty, too, so that graciousness toward me was impressive, also. I called them and told them to come do the job. They came exactly at the time certain that she said they would be there and they came on the day she had said. They came, did a great job and proceeded to clean up after their work. While they were cleaning up the limbs, leaves and other debris created by his cutting, I wrote a check for them and walked to the yard and handed it to Christy. I told her that the reason I had decided to hire them was the way Tony treated her, told her that the gentle love and respect were impressive to me. Tears came to her eyes and she said that she had been in two very abusive marriages and that now she’s married to Tony. She said that he is what she had always wanted in a husband. I asked her if he is as kind and loving in their home toward her as he is in public. She said yes and that he is just as good a father to her four children as he is to his own daughter. I stood amazed. I asked her if she minded if I told Tony the reason why I had hired them. It was fine with her. She was still teary eyed and mellowed by my conversation with her. I told Tony the same thing that I had told Christy. A big smile came to his face and he freely said, “It’s the Lord.” He proceeded to tell me that God had taught him how to treat his helpmeet and that he loves her with God’s divine love. I told him that his love and respect for her are so visually apparent that it left me amazed. I told Tony and Christy that I know the same Lord and we stood in my driveway talking about the marvelous Heavenly Father who brought us together. We shared miracle stories for a long time. Tony told me that he and Christy are filled with God’s Holy Spirit and that’s why there is a deep, loving, respect for each other. I told Tony that I would like to clone him. By the time we finished sharing testimonies about the goodness of God, I felt like we were standing on holy ground. There’s a song that says that when you are standing on holy ground that there are angels all around. I can attest to that fact. My feet hardly touched the ground and I tingled all over. We know that our paths will cross again soon. The efforts that God instituted to get us together the first time were so orchestrated that I know He is orchestrating another encounter. In fact, we agreed that they will come back when the temperature is below freezing and they will cut the end of the limb off while the bees will be taking their winter rest. There are no coincidences when you know God. There are what I call God-incidences. The one He orchestrated between The Helping Hands of Christy and Tony when He brought them to my house produced my feeling that I was standing on holy ground and there were angels all around. I think they felt the same way because Tony kept saying, “Awesome. This is Awesome.” I agree, Tony, and I am in awe of the ability of God to bring them to my house to help me but to also let us stand on holy ground with angels around. It was angel ground. I asked God one time what He meant when He said that when two or three are gathered together that He is in their midst. He said to me, “I never miss a family reunion.” He certainly didn’t miss the family reunion where Christy, Tony and I stood on angel ground right in the middle of my driveway! It was hallelujah time for sure.