Chapter 2 Angels Do Not Always Come From Heaven

 

 

 

CHAPTER TWO

Angels Do Not Always Come From Heaven?

 

 

 

 

     The two battered warriors lay comatose. The RPG blast had accomplished what no enemy had been able to do before this moment; it took out two of the most gritty and battle-hardened troopers ever to walk this earth.

     An African Harrier Hawk drifted smoothly and slowly circling in the sky above. It cried out seemingly to God about these two brave souls lying motionless below. The only cloud in the sky sailed to a position blocking the sun to give shade to the couple in reply to the hawk's cries toward heaven.

     The incoming fire from Al Shabaab had dwindled to nothing. The occasional shouts from the terrorists had broken off.

     No breeze meant added torture to the bodies lying there helplessly. It was as if God had frozen all life, all time at this profane locale. Frozen it to try and make sense of it all, or, perhaps, to pay respect to these changed and brave servants of his that lay dressed in their new clothing of Christianity. Though they wore the new clothing uncomfortably at times, they definitely were changed and beginning to excel.

     In the midst of all this, Artie's eyelids moved, then fluttered. His lids slowly opened to full. The eyeballs rotated taking in the scene from a foggy-headed prone perspective. The head remained stationary while the eyes did the initial job of accessing the area. The brain was handing out assignments to his body as each part came back online. The brain was rebooting slowly.

     Artie wasn't sure if he was alive. He had never experienced death. So - he lay motionless waiting for some heavenly orders. They came to a befuddled mind that interpreted it in a heavenly sense. Abruptly, Artie shouted out, "Giff, the air is filled with angels! Wow, there must be hundreds of 'em, mate. We made it...made it to heaven!"

     There was no reply from Giff. He lay motionless beside Artie with his head almost touching Artie's. His feet the opposite direction of Artie's feet.

     Turning only his head toward Giff, Artie stared at him. As the thought that Giff may be dead by his breathless and motionless state, Artie screamed, "What kind of God would only take me to heaven, and not me old mate, Giff? Wake up you old fool! You're not leaving me here alone."

     Artie tried moving to help his buddy, but the pain in the attempt left him motionless. At this point, he observed one of the angels flying upside down. This sight caused him to laugh. He shouted to Giff, "Hey Mate, one of the angels is a rookie. He's flying upside down! I wish you could see it. Wake up! Oh, you silly...  Sammy never got to the lesson of what one replaces cussing with - yet." He closed his eyes and turned to prayer, "Lord, you gotta help Giff. He's the better by far of the two of us. He's the one you should have taken to heaven, not me."

     As Artie opened his eyes after his outburst, he was shocked to see a tall soldier standing over him dressed in full combat gear, except that he wore strange emblems on his uniform. The soldier smiled, while saying in a thick Russian accent, "My deepest apologies for interrupting your prayers, my brother, but I must identify you. Are you Mr. Artie Shaw or Mr. Giff Davies?"

     "Well, guess my name, rank, and serial number are permissible under the Geneva Convention Articles of War. I'm Artie Shaw. My partner here, God rest his soul, is Giff Davies. Who the... Sorry, I'm kinda new at this non-cursing business. Who are you, sir?"

     The soldier smiled broadly, answering, "I'm one of the angels who have come to rescue you, Mr. Shaw. I am Colonel Dimitri Petrov of the Russian Spetsnaz, special forces."

     That opened his eyes and his mind. Artie immediately responded, "Colonel, I am Sergeant Major Artie Shaw. This man lying beside me is Colour Sergeant Giff Davies. Both of us are retired British SAS special forces. Am I to assume that we are your prisoners at this moment?"

     At that, Colonel Petrov kneeled on the ground next to Artie and Giff. In a surprisingly soft voice, the Colonel spoke while laying his hand gently on Giff, "Sergeant Major Shaw, we are here to rescue you. I am deeply concerned about Sergeant Davies." He commenced cutting Giff's belts and shirt from around the wound in the abdomen. In the process, he wrapped satellite information sending medical bands on his right arm. He took his phone and began speaking to someone Artie assumed was circling above.

     Artie started to ask a question, but the answer came from the Colonel as if he was reading Artie's mind, "My men are setting up a perimeter in preparation for medical helos to land safely. The other soldiers that landed should be here any minute. They are setting up heavy machine gun and mortar emplacements." During this exchange, the Colonel began CPR on Giff while saying with a strained calmness into his phone wedged between his chin and chest, "Get those med choppers in here, now."

     Laying there shell-shocked and confused, Artie started another question but was interrupted again. This time by another pair of soldiers who kneeled beside him. He was shocked as he recognized both men. He let out a warm and tearful, "JJ, Mabior, what a sight for me sore old eyes. I don't understand what's going on, but..."

     JJ smiled as he ordered Artie to nix the questions. "We'll have plenty of time to answer all your questions later when we're home."

     "But the Russians?" Artie demanded an answer.

     The med choppers came in at tree-top level filling the surrounding air with leaves and debris. No sooner did they touch the ground unsteadily than the medics were out and rushing to the wounded men. There were members from The Team who appeared out of seemingly nowhere to help carry heavy instrument cases with monitoring equipment to the soon-to-be medevacs. The scene was of an open-air ICU with doctors, medics, and soldiers randomly skittering around like chickens with their heads cut off, but each knew their job. It was beautifully organized chaos designed to save lives and familiar to combat veterans.

     The Russian Colonel, having been relieved of his lifesaving duties, turned to Artie with an answer to his question about the Russians. "Mr. Shaw, I was contacted by Natalya Fedorov, Alexei's widow. She asked as a Christian for help in saving two very important Christian's lives. Alexei was a longtime and dear friend of mine. I never considered saying no. These other Russians with me are Christians because of the Fedorov family who are such a shining example of our Lord. Need I say more?"

     With a cracking voice, Artie answered, "No, say no more my brother in Christ - say no more. We are not Russians and Brits. We are brothers and sisters in Christ."

     Medics were all over Artie and Giff, cutting clothing and equipment. Giff saw the look on the doctor's face. It said Giff was departing this world. Mabior saw Artie staring at that particular doctor. He excused himself as he leaned down to say a word to Artie, "With God, nothing is impossible."

     It was at this moment, that a soldier walked up to the crowd. He was unrecognizable, dirtier than the rest. He had brush and dirt hanging from his helmet. He was a strange sight.

     The shabby soldier discussed something with several people. After finishing, he directed himself at Artie. He bent down while pulling brush and dirt from his helmet, and spitting dirt from his mouth. finally, he bent down to his knees beside Artie. The soldier asked the Medics if he could have a moment with their patients. They backed away somberly as the man removed his brush-covered helmet.

     Artie gasped, "Sammy!"

     Samuel smiled that big ear-to-ear grin of his, saying, "Sorry, I had duties to attend to, my friend."

     A look of realization spread over Artie's face. He remarked in a hoarse low-level voice, "You're that upside-down angel."

     Samuel laughed, declaring, "Guess I should have taken more skydiving lessons before I did my jump. Boy, did I get a different perspective of the ground."

     Both men laughed heartily for a moment. The laughing was interrupted by a doctor working on Giff saying, "Sorry, think he's gone. I've done all I can."

     Everyone around was flooding the area with their tears. Everyone except Samuel, who crawled over to Giff from Artie's side. He leaned over, and, while gently stroking Giff's hair with one hand, took a small pocket Bible from his shirt and placed it on Giff's chest.

     Everyone became silent and focused on Samuel and Giff. Samuel stared at Giff for a few seconds. Then, Samuel put his left hand tenderly on the wound in Giff's stomach while lifting his right hand and head heavenly. He began to pray: Oh Father, you who created everything that is, was, and forever shall be. Our Father, who took the Israelites out of Egypt. You, our loving and forgiving Father are capable of everything. Your grace created a new man from this old one lying here. You, Father, love this man and have every right to take him to be with you away from all this hate and violence here upon this fallen earth. Our dear and loving Father, if it is your will, would you give this man that you love so dearly back to us for a little while longer? But it is your will, Father, not ours. We pray all this in our Lord Jesus' name, Father. Amen

     As Samuel finished, Giff's chest heaved upward sucking in a huge breath. His eyes opened. A smile covered his face upon seeing Samuel's presence. Returning the smile while lowering his hand, he placed the Bible in Giff's right hand.

     Samuel stood quietly, saying to no person in particular, "I need to rest for a bit." At that, he walked away, disappearing into the tall brush. The crowd stared at the brush for a moment before Mabior reminded everyone of the urgency of the situation.

     The doctor who moments ago had been working with Giff, turned to me wide-eyed and, in a half-whisper asked, "What have we just witnessed?"

     Mabior answered, "We have just witnessed active faith."

     The two patients were loaded aboard the medical chopper. After being secured and all the doctors, medics, and equipment loaded on board, the chopper lifted off speedily at treetop level.

     It was good that we didn't sit and reflect on what had just occurred for the enemy was closing in once again.