The Bicycle Angel

Hey Guys and Dolls!

Have you ever seen an angel on earth?  If you have then you know what I'm talking about.

Here is my experience with an angel.  In the year 2000, I took a job with a company where

I drove around all day on a route and sold frozen food from a little yellow truck.  I would

go to my customer's houses every two weeks and every time I was there I was supposed

to show our new food products and see if I could talk them into trying the new products.

In all fairness, the food was really good, except for a "miss" here and there.  And it all had

a full money back guarantee which was honored with integrity.  The new products were

to be carried in a "freezer bag" which was issued to us.  If we lost the bag, we were charged

$65.00, so it was not something I took lightly and always made sure that after showing our

new products and getting the customer order, I took the bag back to the truck and put it

back in the freezer compartment, all ready for the next customer presentation.

     One day I stopped at a regular customer's house in the ghetto part of town, not being

politically correct here, it was a dangerous area and I made sure that my truck was locked

up tight.  On this particular day, I was training a new driver so I had him help me find the

food order, carry it to the customer, and generally do the things that I routinely did.  There were

two new products on this day as well, a box of 12 cheeseburgers selling for about 15 dollars

and a roast selling for 25 bucks.  So I have the bag, 65 dollars, the cheeseburgers, 15 dollars,

the roast, 25 dollars for a grand total of 105 dollars worth of product plus the bag.

You know what's coming right?  We left our last stop in the ghetto and drove about 4 miles

to a much more affluent and safer neighborhood.  When we got to our first stop, I opened

the freezer compartment which housed the bag of new products and it wasn't there.  I asked

the trainee if he put the bag in a different compartment, to which he replied "I thought you

had it."  This is one reason why I hate to have two people or more doing a task or project

together.  Someone always "assumes" that someone else is doing the job that either or both

should have been taking care of.  Of course, it was my fault the bag was missing as it was

my truck, my route, and my trainee.  I was mad at myself for not paying closer attention.

     After a thorough search of all the freezer compartments, we determined that the bag

must have been left at the last stop in the ghetto, either at the lady's house or on the truck

bumper, where it probably fell off and someone in the 'hood got some free food and a nice

cooler bag to go with it.  But being an optimist, we drove back the four miles to the 'hood

and knocked on the lady's door, hoping to retrieve the bag from her house.  She answered

and told us that we hadn't left the bag there.  I had been dealing with this customer for quite

some time at this point and we had a good relationship. I completely trusted and believed her.

We thanked her and drove slowly back toward our next route area.  At this point, school had

let out about 10 minutes before we had knocked on her door.  So I'm frantic and looking along

the street for the bag and hoping for a miracle.  Wait for it.............

     As we turned a corner, a huge group of children from middle school to high school age

were all walking down the middle of the road causing us to crawl slowly to avoid running

into any of the kids.  All of a sudden, the crowd parted.  A young man appeared from the

midst of the crowd, riding a bicycle and with the bag slung over his shoulder.  With a huge

smile on his face, he rode up to my side of the truck and passed the bag to me without saying

a word.  I checked the bag and the cheeseburgers and the roast were inside.  As I sat there in a

state of shock, I finally was able to speak and said to the trainee,

"Grab a box of popsicles and give them to that guy for returning the bag".

We both got out of the truck as I was going to yell for the guy to hold up a minute and thank

him for returning the bag.  

     The trainee and I both looked past the truck and on the road.  The young man had vanished

as quickly as he had appeared and there was not a trace of him to be found.

I looked at the trainee incredulously with goose bumps rising on my body and said "Do you

believe in angels?"

His response, "I do now!"

I breathed a quick and fervent "Thank you Lord" and finished out the day completely

stunned by what we had witnessed.

And that Guys and Dolls, is my angel story.  Absolutely nothing will convince me that I

did not encounter an angel that day, and I had a witness.