OFB Community Mailing Lists

[Fred A. Miller]

The Parable of the Two Angels

Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy   
family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the 
mansion's guest room. Instead, the angels were given a small space in the 
cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw 
a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the 
older angel replied, "Things aren't always what they seem."

The next night the heavenly pair came to rest at the house of a very poor but 
hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had, the 
couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night's 
rest. When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and 
his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay 
dead in the field.

The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel, "How could you 
have let this happen? The first man had everything, yet you helped him! The 
second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you let the 
cow die."

"Things aren't always what they seem," the older angel replied. "When we 
stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in 
that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and 
unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn't find 
it. Then last night as we slept in the farmer's bed, the angel of death came 
for his wife. I gave him the cow instead."

"Things aren't always what they seem." Sometimes that is exactly what happens 
when things don't turn out the way you think they should. If you have faith, 
you just need to trust in God. You might not understand His will until 
sometime later. God moves in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.

-- 
"As Internet technology itself vaults into new areas, so too does the
Microsoft monopoly and its tried-and-true bag of tricks."
-US Senator Orrin Hatch, (R) Utah