Entertaining Angels Unaware

"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." Hebrews 13:2

The Gent and I were recently in Atlanta and we opted to skip the traffic in favor of public transportation. That is something we do often when visiting other big cities, like DC, but MARTA we usually avoid. Let's just say that many of those rumors about the kind of people who ride MARTA appeared to be true based on this singular experience.

There were several homeless people, some teenagers who appeared up to no good, you get the picture.

While waiting by the platform for our train, we were approached by a woman who obviously wanted to talk to us. She was dressed in layers, missing most of her teeth, and could have been anywhere from 25-40 years old. She looked like she had lived a hard life, but she seemed to be quite content with her present circumstances.

She asked me when our baby was due, and said she was expecting a girl, too. We chatted (a bit uncomfortably on my end, not going to lie) for a few minutes about babies and pregnancy. She was tickled with the Gent and told us of course our baby would be beautiful because she had such beautiful parents. She told us we were blessed. She asked if we knew the Lord and we said yes. She said she had been following Him hard for about five years, and asked if I'd ever back-slidden. I answered of course, I think everyone slips up now and then. She said she had messed up, but she was back to following Jesus now. I'm sure she sensed we were a bit uncertain about this conversation, and she told us again we were going to have a beautiful baby and moved on down the platform. I told her to have a lovely afternoon and to stay warm. Then the train came.

I found myself returning to our chance encounter over and over again. I thought about this verse in Hebrews, about entertaining angels unaware. I knew God used my meeting with this woman to lift me out of my comfortable life for just a few moments. I hoped I had been a reflection of God's love and grace despite my uncertainty about our conversation. I'm still not quite sure what to think of it all.