In these days of great darkness,
The righteous are not spared.
Though they’re on mission for their God,
The dangers are quite real.
Sometimes the Lord assures them
That He’s still in control
By sending one lone angel forth
To lead them through the storm.
‘Twas in the midst of chaos,
A bullet struck her head;
Unconscious for a moment,
She lay still upon the ground.
Her husband rushed to help her;
The bleeding would not stop.
A friend helped get her to the car,
Their passports left behind.
A man stepped through the chaos,
A stranger to them all.
He knew this lady would die soon;
Her life was in his hands.
He led them to the clinic
By many twists and turns.
The precious moments that he saved
Helped get her there in time.
The doctor said the bullet
Had passed right through her head,
And it had done no damage,
Though it glanced against her skull.
He said, “You are hard-headed.”
She laughed. “Like those I love.”
While friend and stranger went back for
The passports left behind.
When their friend turned to thank him,
The stranger was not there;
Though this was in an open place
With no place he could go.
They said, “We’ve seen an angel
Sent by the Lord today:
He’s come here just to help us
And remind us of His care.”
In these days of great darkness,
The righteous are not spared.
Though they’re on mission for their God,
The dangers are quite real.
Sometimes the Lord assures them
That He’s still in control
By sending one lone angel forth
To lead them through the storm.
About This Song:
Around Christmas we’re apt to think about angels. The Bible usually portrays them as messengers. For example, an angel told Mary she would become the mother of Jesus. An angel told Joseph not to reject Mary for her pregnancy because God was the father. Angels announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds.
But angels in the Bible aren’t limited to Christmas. Neither are they limited to being messengers, as we see in this song.
“One Lone Angel” is based on a news article written by Robert O’Brien and published by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) a number of years ago. It’s an accurate rendering of Robert’s article. The incident took place during fighting in Albania, where Burt and Debbie Ayers served as CBF missionaries.
The “friend” who helped Burt was an unnamed Mennonite missionary. The stranger who saved Debbie’s life was–who knows?
Not everyone believes in personal angels. But it’s difficult–in my case, impossible–to read this story or consider the words of the song and deny that something quite supernatural occurred that day. If you don’t believe it was an angel, please share your explanation in a comment.
The Ayers don’t have any other explanation.
A free lead sheet for “One Lone Angel” is available here. An old recording may be heard here. In spite of the recording quality I highly recommend listening to it to get a feel for the song itself.
I’ll be back again next Wednesday. Please join me then. Better still, sign up to receive these weekly posts by email.
Best regards,
Roger
Links you might be interested in:
As I Come Singing. . . 