By Ken Laue

She was ten and a half hours into her twelve-hour shift, an attractive Hispanic woman with black hair, brown eyes, and a baby bump. I could see the fatigue and stress in her face and in the way she carried herself as the hours wore on. It was then that I realized that her real attractiveness lay in her attitude; in her unfailing servant's heart, even under stress.

She was the charge nurse that night, and while I hated to add to the demands of her job, there was no avoiding it: my bladder irrigation bag was running dry. The discharge fluid had to be drained again, measured, and logged into the computer, and my assigned nurse was tied up with another patient.

Cheerfully she pitched in, never losing her comforting, empathetic demeanor.

She was due in a month, and my fourth grandchild was due in six weeks. As we swapped “expecting” stories, I admired her patience – especially in contrast to my own crabbiness and irritability under stress. She left, reminding me earnestly to page her if I needed anything, and I thought, Here is a real-life angel, bringing me comfort and protection from the life-threatening situation that had landed me in the hospital.

I’ve been a Christian for forty years, and I’ve always been fascinated by the subject of angels. Titles such as Angels on Assignment have always captured my attention. But I’ve never seen my personal guardian angels (that I’m aware of). How come?

In his book, Angels: God’s Secret Agents, world-renowned evangelist Billy Graham said he had never seen an angel, either. Don’t get me wrong, though: whether I see them or not, I’m awful glad God has them posted on our behalf.

The Bible records angels appearing to people that God worked with. The angel that announced to Mary that her baby would be the Savior; the angel that busted Peter out of jail; the angel at the empty tomb of the risen Jesus; the angel Gabriel who told Zacharias he would be dumb for a season due to unbelief.

But are the supernatural beings God has in His service the only kind of angels there are?

I have read accounts of modern-day encounters that people have had with angels. A friend of mine recently told me of an experience he had while still an unbeliever. He had picked up a hitchhiker who became more sinister with each passing mile. Finally, feeling the dread of an imminent attack, he pulled the pickup over to the side of the road, and seemingly out of nowhere, a highway patrolman appeared at the driver's window.

“Can I help you?” he said.

“I'm just letting him off here,” my friend replied shakily, whereupon the hitchhiker opened the door and hurriedly disappeared into the landscape. Majorly relieved, my friend looked back around to find neither the officer nor his patrol vehicle anywhere in sight. He peered far down the road and looked carefully around the lot of a not-too-distant establishment. Nothing. He felt he had been visited by an angel, and it had saved his life.

Since my wife, Bonnie, was working in the registrar’s office of the University of Arizona at the time, she had met Michael Landon years ago when he registered his daughter for classes there, and so his work has been of particular interest to us. I must confess that we binge-watched several episodes of his popular 1980s TV series, Highway to Heaven, in which he portrays the angel Jonathan Smith, who travels with his human companion Mark Gordon (Victor French). In each episode, the angel receives an assignment from the Boss (God) which involves bringing a person back from some place of trouble to a place of help and blessing.

While not biblical in all respects, the series did get this part right, because this is God’s purpose: to bring people into a place of peace and blessing, if they will open up to Him. Sometimes Jonathan the Angel had to perform supernatural acts to complete the assignments the Boss gave him. But bringing Mark the sidekick into the equation was Landon’s way of pointing out that a mere mortal may be used by God in ministering to people in times of trouble.

This is the lesson I also learned from the nurses and hospital staff at TMC that served me during that time of pain and suffering. Divine angelic beings aren't the only angels.

That charge nurse exemplified the heart of every staff member I encountered during that hospitalization: the housekeeping people who kept the room clean and sanitized, the patient care technicians, and the transportation guys who wheeled my bed through the long, endless corridors of Tucson Medical Center; the nurses, lead nurses, doctors, food service personnel, and all the other various workers. They were all kind, polite, and comforting, always wishing us patients the best. Performing the jobs that expedited our care and healing. I wish I could remember all their names and post them here.

The word for angel in the Greek, angelos, is a messenger. Vine’s Dictionary notes that common usage of the word in the Bible also involves “belonging to Heaven, and engaged in His service.”

Each one of us believers is supposed to serve in various capacities as angels to others; messengers to others. In that sense, all believers are angels, although not in the sense of a supernatural being. Jesus said the greatest among us, in His estimation, is the servant of all. My take on this is that we are called to be angels and to make serving others our priority.

Often times we fail to see that our dull, boring, maybe low-paying job is not that, but a duty post where God has placed us to be an angel to help others. The ultimate lesson and example left to us by Jesus was His sacrifice on the cross; giving His life for us. The careers that remind me most of the heart of God are those that involve sacrifice for the benefit of others: soldiers and other branches of the military, nurses, doctors, policemen, firemen, and first responders. We are definitely indebted to these people.

But what about the many others without whose jobs our needs would not be met, our lives not helped or blessed? Let's remember these angels as well.

In the controversial 2004 movie A Day Without a Mexican, all the Mexican workers in California disappear and the whole state is plunged into crisis as everything falls apart. The point? Even those deemed the lowliest of workers are critically important to the welfare of all… and not as lowly as some may believe.

I appreciate bumper stickers that recognize the value of certain careers. Thank a Cop is so valid! So is If you can read this, thank a teacher. But to do justice to all people serving others in overlooked jobs, I would have to plaster the entire hatchback of my SUV with additional stickers: Thank a Truck Driver. Thank a Veteran. Thank A Military Family. Thank a Custodian. Thank a Bus Driver. Thank a Nurse. Thank a Construction Worker. The list goes on.

I always wanted to be a scientist. That’s what I went to college for. Instead, for 38 years, I was in student transportation (school bussing). I used to think Man, this is lowly! This is really the bottom of the food chain! But God has shown me how many hundreds of kids got an education because I got them safely to and from school, day after day, month after month, and in some cases, year after year. I got to see some kids grow from kinder through high school. Even in later years, as a supervisor, I drove absentees’ routes frequently. Plus the experience I gained with kids on the bus helped me as I worked in Children’s Church for more than thirty years. I was literally an angel on assignment, taking care of His Kidz.

Any person who serves others in any capacity is placed by God in a situation where He intends for us to be that angel and servant. That doesn’t mean we always cooperate with God in these endeavors – I’d be lying to say I always have, but I keep striving toward that end. And it certainly doesn’t mean that we are supernatural angelic beings. But if we call ourselves Christians we should do our utmost to serve others with a good heart and a good attitude.

When I arrived at the ER in indescribable, excruciating pain that almost made me pass out, two great doctors put a plan in gear to deliver me from my pain and put me on the road to recovery. Then the nursing staff, the hospital's doctor, and the other workers fulfilled the plan.

As I write this I am at home, recovering. So, I have had time to ponder questions like: What, Oh God, was the point of letting me go through this excruciating experience? What good could possibly come out of this? I began to reflect on the tremendous exampleship of the nursing staff on the 900 Wing of Tucson Medical Center, and all the other employees. While I can't assume they were all of my same Christian faith, their heart and comfort and kindness remind me of the heart of God: sacrificing self to serve the needs and hurts of mankind as He laid aside His kingship to become the ultimate sacrifice for each and every person.

Thank you, Tucson Medical Center doctors, staff, and employees. I write this to honor you. I’m also very thankful to my Christian friends who prayed. And most of all I offer a big, big thank you to God for letting me experience the kindness and care of these wonderful and often-overworked people.

That I should strive to be more like them, especially since I represent Christ Jesus.