It was a picture that Ben was familiar with, for it had been in his parents’ room as long as he could remember. The painting showed a young boy and girl about to step into a dangerous chasm, but over them hovered a bright shining winged figure, his hands outstretched as if to protect them. To Ben the picture had seemed somehow wrong, even when he was a child. He’d stared at it often, and wondered if God really cared enough to send an angel to look after wandering children. As he’d grown older, he liked the painting less and less—though he never mentioned his feeling to his parents. “Well, I don’t know, Son. I expect God’s got different kinds of angels. One of them might look like that, but others might look like something else. Funny thing, every time an angel appeared to someone in the Bible, the first thing he’d say was, “Fear not.” “Why do you suppose they said that?” “I guess they were pretty spectacular. In the book of Revelation an angel appeared to the apostle John, and he fell down and began to worship him.”
