¹⁵ The prophet’s attendant got up early in the morning. When he went outside there was an army surrounding the city, along with horses and chariots. He said to Elisha, “Oh no, my master! What will we do?” ¹⁶ He replied, “Don’t be afraid, for our side outnumbers them.” ¹⁷ Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he can see.” The Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw that the hill was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. ¹⁸ As the army approached him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike these people with blindness.” The Lord struck them with blindness as Elisha requested. ¹⁹ Then Elisha said to them, “This is not the right road or city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you’re looking for.” He led them to Samaria. –II Kings 6.15-19

In late 2009, when I was 35 years old, I was diagnosed with a rare, incurable, terrifying cancer called Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor-sarcoma (DSRCT). There is no treatment for it, and if you are diagnosed with this your odds of survival are only 10% up and until 5 years (the typical lifespan after diagnosis is 2 years). They used the Ewings Sarcoma protocol on me, which literally almost ended up killing me itself. Miraculously, after loosing a kidney, and part of my inferior vena cava, and with some lasting scars and side-effects, the Lord decided that I would live and not die from this.

I recount the above, as I have multiple times prior, to share one of the many theophanic encounters we had (my wife, myself, and my children) during this season. Right at the beginning, after diagnosis, and the day before my in-patient chemo was to start, I had a PET scan; just to make sure there wasn’t any further spread of the cancer. I was terrified of getting those results. But that would be a day of a tangible encounter with a messenger from God for us. We left the OHSU diagnostic center, and drove across the bridge back to the Washington side. My wife and I stopped at the Subway to grab a sandwich for dinner. While standing in line an older guy (60ish) walked in behind us. He was lanky and very tall; probably about 6’6’’. He had white hair, and was rather the spectacle. He was standing right behind me in line, we struck up some small talk about the weather; he said he was from Minnesota as I recall. Just as we finished paying for our meal this guy stops me to shake my hand. As I shake his hand he says: “nice to FINALLY meet you.” As my wife and I got in the car, independent of each other, we looked at one another and said: ‘I think that was an angel.’ It wasn’t just what he said, although that was what clenched it for me, but there was a strange yet comforting presence associated with that meeting. I still remember to this day he was driving a white Dodge Acclaim.

We went home, and later that evening as my wife and kids went to bed, I began to walk around the living room and pray; lamenting and petitioning the Lord. In that moment, the above passage from this Elisha experience came to mind. Along with that what I wrote of recently on the heavens being continuously open through Christ was coupled with the Elisha experience, with the armies of God’s heavenly host surrounding them, and this angel encounter from earlier. The intensity, and yet total peace that I experienced in that moment has still never left me. I was to start “treating” my mortality the next morning by having a toxic drip of poison flow into my body. The Lord came and ministered to me (and us, i.e. my family) that night in a unique way; I didn’t want it to end. It was as if I could sense that same Elishan army surrounding me, and that the Lord wanted me to have a tangible and concrete experience of his presence as he sent my ‘guardian angel’ along earlier to confirm that. I would describe what I experienced that evening as a vision. But not in an ecstatic sense, instead it was strangely concrete and present to the moment at hand. It wasn’t an “out-of-body” experience, but a uniquely en-presenced moment wherein the living Lord of all that is graciously allowed me to experience His presence in just exactly the way He knew I needed. It was fitting that the angelic army was there, with the Lord supervening, because it was going to be a real-life battle beyond what I could have ever imagined.

I still don’t want to die. But I know, in a fresh way, that when that day comes (if it ever does, MARANATHA) that same reality of the living and triune God is always already there to meet me; He is there to meet every single one of us who have trusted in His dearly beloved Son for His eternal life. I’m sharing this again because I was prompted to by my bible reading which I was just doing. The following passage from Luke 1.19 reminded me of my own experience: “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God ….” I am Bobby, who stands in the presence of God.” amen