Scars of My Guardian Angel

by Russell L Martin

  As I continue trying to soak in the beauty of my surroundings and focus on the giant wall, I hear the sound of wings. This really sounded familiar. As I turn to look, oh my goodness! Those aren’t large birds, they are Angels! Thousands of Angels; I wonder what they’re doing? Maybe this is just a normal day around the kingdom.

  I turn and make my way back in the slow moving line, continuing to hear the chatter and excitement in the voices of God’s redeemed.

  The clouds feel refreshing to my face and as I breathe in I catch the same fragrance of jasmine that I did back near the dandelion fields. How can this get any better? Blessing after blessing!

  I see old and young in line and I’m wondering how the old people are making this hike. We have to be at least two or three miles up this stairway. I feel great. As a matter of fact I haven’t been tired the whole time I’ve been here. But I felt the need to sleep the last two nights. I wish Allayer and Nipper was here, I could ask them.

  I step aside again and let a few people by until I spot an elderly gentleman. “Excuse me sir, do you mind if I join you?”

  He looks up and with a big smile, “Sure young fellow, I would love the company.”

  “Thanks, ole buddy.” I reach out to shake his hand and join in the walk. “So what’s your name and where do you come from, ole timer?”

  He laughs, “I might look like an ole timer but I feel like I’m twenty-one again.”

  “I know what you mean. Isn’t it great? ”

  “Yes indeed, I’ve been lying in bed helpless for the last fifteen years. My poor lovely wife has waited on me hand and foot every minute of it.”

  “My goodness, bless yawls’ hearts. I know that had to be tough on both you and your wife.”

  “Yes it was. We both prayed every day that God would just bring me home and He did! Glory! I made it to be ninety-six and we spent all those years in Douglas, Arizona. Everyone around Douglas called me Ole Chet. My real name is Sheppard.”

  He stuck his hand back out for a second greeting. I chuckled as I shook his hand, “Pleased to meet you Ole Chet, my name is Chado Cole.” We both start laughing.

  “I know I know… my nick name sounds a lot like O Shet. Well I got stuck with that name by my best friend, you see he was tongue-tied and every time he would talk to anyone else about me, he would say, ‘You know O Shet.’ Do you get the picture?”

  “Sure I do, I can see how someone would have a bit of fun with that. Don’t feel bad, I got the nickname Codzs when I got hit you know where with a baseball when I was playing short stop during a tournament, and the name stuck. I hated it at first, but it didn’t bother me after a few years. So Mr. Chet, is your tongue-tied friend still back at home?”

  “No sir, he passed last year; he was ninety-seven and I’ll be looking for him the first chance I get after we pass through the gate.”

  “I understand. I’ve got a few friends I can’t wait to see also. Okay ole buddy, maybe we’ll cross paths again.” The ole man tips his head as I step back out of line.

  I look back down the stairway and I see people scattered for miles. This visual makes you stop and think, if the lost back on Earth could only catch a glimpse of what I’m seeing, they would humble themselves and cry out for God. Come to think of it, if they could see into the Realm and know the darkness that surrounds them with the demons and power of the fallen angels that patiently wait on their passing, they would run to Christ!

  I lift my voice to God, “Please surround my family with your love, Lord, that none will perish, Amen.”

  I slip back in line and continue my ascent up the golden stairway. Every so often I catch a glimpse of Heaven’s Gate through the scattered clouds. I step to the left then as far to the right trying to see around the slow moving line of saints. The swirling clouds hovering over this mountain seem to be getting denser as we move along.

  I can see what looks like the end of our line up ahead, but I don’t think it’s the end at all. It’s just they are disappearing as they walk through the mass of clouds. This is so cool; we have to be near the gate, my stomach feels like a thousand butterflies are floating around. I wonder if everyone is feeling the same heart-pounding excitement as I am.

  As I get to the thick grayish white clouds where the people seem to be disappearing, it reminds me of a foggy Louisiana morning.

  When I begin to walk through the heavy vapor, goose bumps flood over my entire body. I have an overwhelming need to shout with joy and happiness. Almost embarrassed inside, I look over at a lady to my right and ask her, “Excuse me Miss, but I have to ask, how are you feeling, right now?”

  She looks at me with a growing smile and suddenly starts shouting and jumping up and down hollering to the top of her lungs, “Glory is to God, and His Kingdom, hallelujah, hallelujah!” And before I know it, all the people in the mist of the cloud are shouting and praising God, including me. I am so glad to know I’m not the only one experiencing this strange feeling when we entered the mist of the cloud.

  As we walked through this mist I noticed our clothing had instantly changed into a brilliant white cloth. The lady standing beside me was feeling of her sleeve, she rubbed the cloth with her thumb and index finger, and then held it up to smell. She looked over at me, “It’s pure white cotton and has my favorite smell of roses.” I immediately lifted my sleeve and pressed it against my face and I could smell jasmine, Could this be my favorite smell? I never knew I had a favorite smell, but as I think of it, I believe it is.

  I burst out laughing, “God has thought of everything to give his children the desires of their hearts.” As I think back over my journey I remember catching the fragrance of jasmine several times. The blessings of God are unending.

  After the excited group of saints settled back down from the infilling of the Holy Spirit and our new clothes, I notice a change in the mist. It was thinning, I could see further and further ahead.

  20

  A City in Heaven

  T he Gate was slowly coming into full view as we walked completely out of the mist. We stepped off the stairway onto the flat surface of a giant courtyard. The courtyard has gold tile from one end to the other and between the joints of tile it seemed to be laced together with silver. The floor of the courtyard to my left had the appearance of pure glass, but when I looked to my right it seem to change, the floor almost looked like it was moving and had the impression of water. The glistening reflections of the pearl gate bouncing off the courtyard floor, has to be one of the most beautiful sights in Heaven.

  From a long distance away, the gate looked like it was built with two pearls, but as I see it up close I can tell it’s only one. The giant pearl looks like it was carefully split into two pieces to create this massive gate.

  In the Book of Revelation, John talked about Heaven having twelve gates and each individual gate was of one pearl.

  I stepped back out of line, just to get a better picture of what I was witnessing. I can see twelve Angels, six standing on each side of the open gate. The Angels have the appearance of my Guardian Angel, with the same type of armor. Their shields and swords are strapped across their backs. The tips of their wings are resting on the gold tile.

  When I continue to admire every detail of the entrance, I notice above the gate a giant golden beam that stretches across the entire width of the opening. Across the beam the name Holy Jerusalem is inscribed at the center. As I see past the gate, the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

  The long line of people that had already entered was being greeted by loved ones. I see childlike Angels scattered throughout the crowd reminding me of Allayer and Nipper as they first appeared so childlike when we first met. I remember they said their childlike appearance was intended to be gentle and comforting to make the transition easier.

  I continue to watch the little Angels taking children out of the line and holding their hands as they lead them along the golden path. This picture magnifies the depth of God’s love for His children.


  Briefly looking back over the clouds hovering below us, I take a deep breath, turn and head across the courtyard toward the gate.

  Walking in between the twelve Angels, I look to see if by chance my Guardian might be in the mix. Their faces all fixed staring straight ahead, almost as if looking right through me. I don’t see my Angel; I guess I’ll run into him later on.

  As I slowly move along with the line of saints, I’m wondering, if there are twelve gates and each gate has this many people walking through, there must be a lot of people dying or getting killed every minute. I suddenly remember reading an article one time that said fifty-six million people die each year so that would mean about 153,424 on an average would die every day.

  Wow, I have always been terrible at math. God is truly opening my mind !

  So if over 153,000 are dying every day, I wonder what the average is between the saved and the lost. Okay, twelve gates divided by 153,424 people would mean that 12,785.3 would be here walking through if they were all saved. My goodness, that surely isn’t the case because when I looked back down the stairway earlier, I could only see maybe a thousand people. Could my estimate be close? Where are the other eleven thousand? A scripture came to me from Matthew, 7:13-14,

  “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go by in it.

  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

  Wow, it must be a lot of lost souls walking the dark road into Hell every day. Man, what a scary and sad thought!

  Maybe that was what my dream or should I say my nightmare was about when I fell off the mammoth. I saw thousands walking in darkness. My God, I shake my head and look down at the gold pavement, as I get rid of this dark vision of my dream.

  Looking down each side of the street as I move along I don’t see any familiar faces. I’m wondering, maybe my folks didn’t get the memo. I chuckle inside as I continue.

  Moving through small groups of people standing in the street, I stretch to see over their heads standing on my tiptoes. Still nobody in sight, and suddenly, I feel someone tug on my garment. It’s one of the little Angels smiling up at me. He grabs my hand and leads me through the groups of saints. As we make our way out of the crowd and into an opening, I have a clear view of the street up ahead. He stops, let’s go of my hand and points, and after giving me direction, he smiles and disappears back into the crowd.

  After staring up the road, and still not making out exactly what he was pointing at, I continue walking in the general direction .

  As I walk along this beautiful golden street, I have thoughts of seeing Jesus standing in a white robe with his arms spread open like I’ve seen in pictures, or my ole papa waving, “Over here Son!” or maybe even my sweet daughter, “Hey Dad, over here, over here!” My hope fades as I can see clearly up the street with no evidence of anyone familiar. The few people I pass smile and wave or nod their heads in loving gestures as I move along.

  * * *

  I see an odd sight further up the street, a tall stranger standing on the side of the road with two dogs sitting right beside him. When I get closer both dogs start running in my direction. “Are they coming to me?” The closer they get I noticed something familiar with both animals. “This can’t be!” I kneel down in the street as I see the happiness in their faces; they run full speed heading directly at me. Both dogs tackle me and gently bring me down to where I am now laying on my back. Whining and whimpering, they lick my whole face. What a welcoming committee; it was two of my favorite dogs from childhood, Rex and Moushie.

  I roll around on my back, right in the middle of the golden streets of Heaven, loving on my two best friends. What a blessing for God to have allowed my two favorite childhood dogs to make it into Heaven.

  After a ton of dog kisses and laughter, I sit up and the stranger is standing at my feet. Actually he isn’t a stranger at all. I could recognize those scars from anywhere, it was my Guardian Angel. He looked different, no wings, no armor, no sword. He was dressed like me.

  He reaches his hand out to help me up. After I’m standing I see both dogs start running and darting in circles around us tucking their tails underneath their bellies as they did as pups when they were overwhelmed with happiness.

  I hear the Angel speak, “They are sure happy to see you.”

  “I’m happy to see them too, and I’m also happy to see you again. This is actually the first time you’ve spoken to me and I’ve wanted to ask you your name ever since we were on Earth. Do you mind telling me?”

  “Of course not, my name is Uriel, and I am one of many Guardian Angels.”

  “Uriel, that sounds familiar, I read somewhere that Uriel was an Archangel. Are you an Archangel?”

  “No, God named me after Uriel the mighty Archangel.”

  “Wow, what a cool name. What does the name Uriel mean?”

  “It means God is my light.”

  “Now that’s awesome. So how did you get stuck with me, Uriel? Allayer and Nipper told me you’ve been watching over me ever since my birth.”

  “Yes, I’ve been with you throughout your whole life. Actually the Master assigned me to you years before you were even conceived.”

  “Why so early on, I mean before I was born?”

  “Do you remember on God’s mountain when Lucifer asked you about his coming to you as a child, and when he stood at the foot of your bed?”

  “Yes, how could I forget? I sure didn’t like having to talk with that evil rascal on the mountain! By the way, were you there in my room the night Satan came?”

  “Yes I was there. I stood with two other Guardians in your room. Lucifer wanted to kill you. The demons that were assigned to your dad had informed Lucifer of Jesus appearing in your vision the year before. From this small piece of information he knew that if Christ had come to you in a vision, that God surely had big plans for you. He even went before the Lord God and asked permission to take your life.”

  “What the heck, Satan wanted to kill me? Were you there when he met with God?”

  “No, I was watching over you. I got the news from one of God’s messengers.”

  “What kind of messenger brought you the news? Was he like Allayer and Nipper, a messenger Angel?”

  “Yes, exactly.”

  “What did he tell you, I mean, what did God tell Lucifer when he asked for my life?”

  Uriel reached down as we walked along and gently patted Moushie on the head. “Well Chado, I’m not sure of the exact conversation, I only received bits and pieces and this is what I was told from the messenger: He said, it was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Lucifer also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, ‘Lucifer why are you walking in the midst of the sons of God?’

  ‘I seek the soul of a child from a lost bloodline. He has no purpose in life or to you; he will eventually perish as the cursed bloodline of his father’s father.’

  ‘Woe to you, prince of darkness, I know the child you seek, but I hear his mother’s prayers and the groaning from her fasting and I am faithful to bless her and her family. You have no right to this Little Soul. The curse of generations will be broken with his father. My protection will stand.’ “

  “My goodness, I can’t believe God and Satan were having a conversation about me back when I was a kid, and especially the part about Satan wanting to kill me. Good Lord! So now I understand why you’ve been with me all these years. Uriel, thank God, and thank you! ”

  I stop in the middle of the street, take my wine pouch and have a small refreshing sip of wine. I held it up and to my surprise; Uriel takes the pouch and squeezes himself a mouthful.

  “You know Uriel, thinking about that conversation between God and Satan, you mentioned where God called me Little Soul. Satan called me that back when we were on Tabula Rasa. Then I fell asleep lying on the back of a bull mammoth yesterday, I had a dream and in my dream,
someone called me Little Soul. Apparently that’s where it came from. So Uriel, I don’t understand why God would use me. I’m just a regular guy, a nobody.”

  “Well let me explain something, God does his best work with the nobodies, remember the old lady that gave a penny and Jesus told everyone that this lady gave more than anyone there. God loves to do big things with little people.”

  “Can you tell me His plan for me?”

  “I can tell you this; you’re going to play a part in rescuing millions from the hands of Lucifer.”

  “Millions? How in Heaven’s name can I do that? I’m no longer on Earth.”

  “You know the dreams you’ve been having?”

  “Oh yeah, every detail, they just didn’t make any sense.”

  “Did you dream about scrolls?”

  “Yes, three different times.”

  “Do you remember everything you’ve seen thus far on your journey?”

  “Yes, I remember everything, like it just happened, but I still don’t understand what the dreams meant or what I’m supposed to do.”

  Uriel smiles, “Have patience, Little Soul.”

  We both chuckle as we move along.

  “Chado, have you thought about where you want to go or who you might want to visit? ”

  “Well, I kind of thought Jesus would be here to meet us at the gate, can we go see Him?”

  “Not yet, Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father and He’s on the throne in the center of Heaven right now. You’ll know when it’s time to see Him.”

  “Does He ever go anywhere or does He stay pretty much around the throne room?”

  “He goes anywhere He pleases, and sometimes He stands at the entrance of one of the twelve gates and loves on the new arrivals as they come in. But He is Lord of Heaven not greeter of Heaven.”

  “Okay, I think I understand. Uriel, you say I’ll know when it’s time to see Jesus, how do you mean?”

  “Sometimes but not very often, you’ll hear what everyone calls the Trumpets of Gathering. There will be three long blasts from the trumpets and when you hear these trumpets you’ll have three days to get to the center of Heaven.”