A very interesting thing happened to my wife Susan after her dad’s funeral service a few years ago. She was pulling onto the freeway, headed home. She wasn’t aware of the car racing behind her in the right-hand lane. It would have been a very serious accident if he’d hit her as she was entering traffic.

But in an instant, without her seeing anything or even knowing what was happening, something or someone grabbed her steering wheel, overpowered her and turned the car to the right onto the side of the freeway.

That invisible force may well have saved Susan’s and the kids’ lives, or at least protected them and the other driver from a serious and costly accident.

She was so stunned, she could hardly talk about what had happened. But after I heard the whole account, we all agreed an angel had stepped in at a difficult time and protected her.

I believe in angels. I also believe that they intervene in our daily lives.

Surveys have revealed that at least 20% of Canadians and Americans have had what they believe is an encounter with an angel. There are hundreds of angel stories floating around but here are a couple I remember:

Dr. S.W. Mitchell, a celebrated Philadelphia neurologist, had gone to bed after an exceptionally tiring day. Suddenly, he was awakened by someone knocking on his door. Opening it, he found a little girl, poorly dressed and deeply upset. She told him her mother was very sick and asked him if he would please come with her. It was a bitterly cold, snowy night and although he was bone tired, Dr. Mitchell dressed and followed the girl.

As Reader’s Digest reported the story, he found the mother desperately ill with pneumonia. After arranging for medical care, he complimented the sick woman on the intelligence and persistence of her little daughter. The woman looked at him strangely and then said, “My daughter died a month ago.” She added, “Her shoes and coat are in the clothes closet there.” Dr. Mitchell, amazed and perplexed, went to the closet and opened the door. There hung the very coat worn by the little girl who had brought him to tend to her mother. It was warm and dry and could not possibly have been out in the wintry night.

Another: Six Soviet cosmonauts said they witnessed the most awe-inspiring spectacle ever encountered in space: a band of glowing angels with wings as big as jumbo jets. “What we saw,” they said, “were seven giant figures in human form but with wings and mist-like halos, as in the classic depiction of angels. Their faces were round with cherubic smiles.”

A couple of months ago, I had a visit from a man whose son had died. While he and his other son were visiting the grave of the boy, my friend snapped a picture of his second son standing beside his brother’s gravestone. He showed me the picture. It was amazing to see a shape of light like an angel with wings standing beside his son, hovering over the grave. Another picture taken in the same light showed nothing. I agreed that he’d somehow snapped a picture of the glow of an angel.

Barry Buzza (www.barrybuzza.com and http://barrybuzza.blogspot.com) is senior pastor at Northside church in Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam.