True stories about encounters with angels

Some anonymous person left three issues of this magazine in the chiropractor's office, where my wife started reading and then asked if she could have them. Sure, said the receptionist. Thus were we introduced to a very inspirational magazine. Who knows? Maybe it was angel-guided. We like this magazine enough to subscribe -- which is what brought me here to do this review.

"Angels on Earth" is published six times a year by Guideposts, which many people know through the "Guideposts" magazine (inspirational) and holiday theme books. Although Guideposts is definitely a Christian publisher, the "Angels" magazine itself is non-denominational and even inter-religious at times. One of the three issues we found in the doctor's office had a story about a Jewish Holocaust survivor. Another story was about a child looking for a lost cat, with no real focus on God as such, other than being "guided" to look in an unlikely place. Some of the people in the stories aren't all that religious or, if they are, their particular religion is presented as a part of their personal bio as it fits into the story, not as preaching or "witnessing."

The illustrations, too vary widely -- from "church Sunday school" pictures of angels from the Renaissance Masters, to more ordiinary drawings of sea captains, cops, lumberjacks, ordinary moms and dads -- depending on the story they illustrate. (If you know "Guideposts", you know the artwork -- otherwise, think "Reader's Digest.")

The purpose of the magazine is not to convert you to anything but, rather, to tell true stories about people who have had encounters with guardian angels. "Belief" is left up to the reader. Some of the angel stories are of the "miracle" type: surviving car crashes, shipwrecks, serious illnesses, etc. Others are of the more "ordinary" type, such as the stranger who is there at the right moment. This fits with the Jewish POV of an angel, since the Hebrew word, malach, can refer either to a supernatural being or an earthly messenger.

Personally, I believe in angels, and I find the stories fascinating. Granted, some of them might strike you as versions of "The Vanishing Hitchhiker." On the other hand, all the stories are first-person, by-lined accounts, often with photos of the people or animals involved. And how do we know the Vanishing Hitchhiker isn't a real angel sometimes?