True story ...
Years ago, as I became a regular Bible reader and began to understand the chief way God the Holy Spirit speaks to us in inspired Scripture -- that is, through Bible structures called "types" and "word pictures" which are recognized in the Catholic Church Encyclical Dei Verbum -- I decided to write a book on Bible types and word pictures (which is nearly done, by the way).
The best tool for researching the phenomenon of Bible types and Bible word pictures turned-out to be a massive book more familiar to our Protestant brothers and sisters, called a "Bible concordance." Years ago, I knew that concordances -- indices to every word of the Bible -- were "out there," among Bible reference material, but I did not know what they were called, and that there was a whole crop of them.
One day, in late 1995, after spending the day functioning as someone's attorney in a trial in Superior Court in Mount Holly, Burlington County, New Jersey, I was returning home in my car to my Magnolia, Camden County, New Jersey home via "the back roads" -- it was 6:15 p.m., dark, and rainy, and so way too congested on Route 295 South to be anything but an unnerving drive. I crossed Route 70 at what used to be called the "Ellisburg Circle," and proceeded down Brace Road in Cherry Hill toward where it empties into Route 561 next to Winter Ford.
When I came abreast the old Bible book store on Brace Road, just up the street from Route 561, I thought, "Oh, that's right -- I had wanted to look for one of those Protestant indices to every word in the Bible."
As I pulled-in, I saw that mine was the only car in the parking lot, except that there was a bicycle chained to a metal post in front of the Bible book store. I thought, "That must be for the check-out person in the bookstore. But it's cold and raining! Not a good night for riding a bike!"
As I walked in, the guy behind the counter looked at me with a grimace and growled, "We close in 30 minutes. Finish-up quick so that I can lock up and then drive my bike home in the rain."
The Bible book store was tiny, but it had 2 floors. I went upstairs and scanned the rows of books carefully, looking for this index to every word in the Bible whose name I could not remember. Nothing.
I went back downstairs and the guy behind the counter impatiently declared, "10 minutes."
I started scanning the first floor book shelves, but realized that I just would not have time to find what I was looking for. I gave up and went to walk out, when suddenly I realized that there was someone standing in front of me, blocking my way to the door.
It was a young lady, a shapely brunette wrapped in a black raincoat with a very pretty slightly freckled face.
"Hi," she said with a delightful smile, "Can I help you?"
To my eyes, she was about 5'6", maybe 125 pounds. But she had an odd air about her -- even though she was, to my eyes, 6" shorter than me, I had this clear impression that she towered over me -- that she was maybe 7 or 8 feet tall.
"Maybe you can," I answered, "If you know your stuff. I want to write a book on structures in the Bible best referred to as 'types' and 'word pictures.' I believe that these word structures were built into the Bible text by God and that they talk to mankind in a most amazing way. The 'types' comprise a kind of 'language of the Holy Spirit,' and the 'word pictures' are largely constructed out of this language. My book would show that though the Bible had maybe 100 different human authors over the centuries, the Holy Spirit inspired them all to speak with the same ordered typological language, from book to book, from century to century. It is amazing. But to prove this ..."
"... you need to find all of the types in the Bible text," the pretty girl interrupted. "Well, Peter, I think I can help you."
Her words startled me. I thought, "How did she know my first name. I didn't tell her that my name is Peter!"
She walked across the room to a shelf in the corner, pulled out the biggest book, returned to where I was standing and plopped the book in my arms.
"You'll need a Bible concordance, Peter, and you'll also need the best available concordance -- the new Strong's Concordance with Hebrew and Greek Appendices." As I spent the next few seconds thumbing through the appendices, I realized, "Wow! She's right! This is exactly what I need! The Hebrew and Greek terms underlying each word translated into English will help me to see which English language words are actually the exact same Hebrew language or Greek language type! But how could she have picked-up on an abstruse topic like 'types' and 'word pictures' so quickly?!"
The beautiful girl, in the meantime, crossed the room to the other side, pulled a large leather-bound copy of the classic King James Bible off a shelf, and returned to me and plopped that on top of the Strong's Concordance in my arms.
"Peter," she explained, "Since you are Catholic and analyzing the Catholic Bible for your book ... "
Again, her words startled me. I thought, "I don't remember telling her that I am Catholic!"
" ... you'll need the classic King James Version as an intermediary between Strong's and the Catholic Bible, because Strong's concordizes the classic King James Version. When you see something that interests you in the Catholic Bible, see how the classic King James Version words the same verse, and look up the classic King James terminology in Strong's."
I spent a few more seconds thumbing through each book, and then I looked up to thank her. I am certain that no more than about 5 seconds had passed since I had last looked at her face.
She was gone.
The only person in the room was the guy behind the counter next to the cash register, looking at me crossly.
"Will you please finish!" he growled, "It's time to close!"
"Where is she???!!!" I spontaneously asked.
"Where is who?" the check-out guy asked impatiently. "You been standing there, looking at those books, for 10 minutes! Please, check out and leave!"
I repeated, "Where is the pretty brunette I was just talking to? She got these books for me! You can't have missed her!"
"Sir!" he growled, "You're the only customer who's come in her in the last 30 minutes. There's been no else! Now, please, check out!"
I thought, "He's lying! He would have been standing there, looking at me talking to her!"
I put the books on the counter so that he could start writing-up a slip, and I immediately began searching between the book shelves for the amazing young lady. I even checked the unisex bathroom on the first floor for her. I ran up stairs to the second floor. No girl. Where did she go?
I returned to the first floor, deeply puzzled, and paid. I said to the guy, "Listen, let me drive you home, so that you don't have to drive your bike in the rain."
"Please," he said, "Just leave so that I can lock up."
I left, but I never forgot the experience, and ultimately concluded that the incident must have been supernatural. In the Bible, angels are always male, probably to be consistent with the Man Type. However, that doesn't mean that angels can't possess a feminine gender appearance. I suspect that God sends as angels those whose appearance is most likely to engage the attention of the visited person. My wife Rise`, an attractive brunette, knows that I prefer brunettes, and prefer the psychology of women to men in conversation.
I am convinced that I literally met an angel, face-to-face, that day in 1995.
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