Angels Might Walk Upon This Earth

I met a guy on my very first day at college, August 1978, Tulsa, Oklahoma. He had on cowboy boots and he was from Texas. We had that in common. He was just a regular guy from Deer Park, Texas. His hometown is a suburb of Houston that is mostly famous for being downwind to a bunch of oil refineries. I don't remember the details of his high school experience, but he was the kind of guy that would be elected team captain of the high school football team or a big shot at "Boy's State". We were friends across our entire tenure at college. He was a pre-med major and over the years he spent a lot of time studying with my roommates. I gave him a nickname that included a reference to the word "Obnoxious". That couldn't have been farther from the truth. He was a really solid guy, I remember how he used to cringe when I would use my sharp tongue to put someone down. He had a way of making me not want to be a jerk without becoming a jerk himself. He was no angel, but I always thought he was a little better than the rest of us.

I had a job in college working for the Student Housing Department. My duties involved sitting at the front desk of the various campus dormitories. Somehow I managed to spend a good bit of my work time answering the phone at the girl's dorms. That job fit me pretty well. I was working the front desk one Friday evening during my sophomore year. A girl came into the lobby that I knew from various dormitory social and spiritual activities, but this was one of those moments you don't easily forget. She had been out for the evening at some sort of function and she was dressed very nicely. She had a beautiful head of other worldly blonde hair and she was a very pretty girl. At that particular moment, her beauty and her personality were blended in such a way that she appeared angelic to me. I remember thinking, "There is nothing in heaven more beautiful than this girl". In the time that I was in school with her I never saw anything in her conduct or demeanor to change my belief that she was indeed, an angel.

Well, my friend married that coed angel and ultimately became a physician.

I got a Christmas card and a letter from them this year, the result of my finding them on Facebook. I generally shy away from reading Christmas Letters, but after looking at the picture that came with the letter, I needed more information.

I have stated on a number of occasions that Deanna and I did not have the courage to make the transition from a man to man defense to a zone defense, so our brood never exceeded two. I am looking at this family photo, there are eight children in the photo, and then there is a photo of their newest addition taped to the back. So NINE children in all! I cannot even begin to imagine the logistics involved in running a household that contains nine children. I don't know the story on the entire group of children, but It is a safe bet that the majority of this family is not related by blood.

My friends, who are the parents of this group of children, no doubt have been called by God and are anointed for this task. So I sat and thought about them and how they must live. I thought about the organization and planning that must be required just to take care of things that I don't give a second thought about. Meals, grocery lists, dental appointments, clothes and shoes. Then what about music lessons, soccer practice and prom? I guess the older children help with the younger ones but there is no way it gets easier, it just changes. They have to be the parental equivalent of a division one college football quarterback, they have to check off and audible just about every down.

Here is how my mind works, how much more tragedy is one exposed to by having nine children versus having two? It is my sincere hope that the joy and love that one receives from a parenting endeavor of this magnitude is multiplied well beyond nine fold.

I'm sure that this couple would scoff at my idea that they are more angel than human. They were never the kind to take themselves very seriously. In my mind, I can only see the vision of my friend married to an angel whom he helps to raise nine children, each an individual piece of God's love and grace in tangible form.

So I still like to think, angels might walk upon this planet and pick up the slack left by others. Their job here on earth is to see that where there is a child, there is also a family and a home life where someone cares.

Peace and Mercy to those that take on this most noble of roles; Mommy and Daddy to those who have neither.