The Monster and the Angel

Pastor Danny was new to the three-church district and felt it was a good time to hold evangelistic services in all three of his rural Montana communities.

Danny Velez, his wife, and their two daughters, moved to Libby, Montana, in September. The weather was either very hot or very cold, and driving the distances between the churches seemed to take forever. When winter covered the roads with snow and ice, the trips took even longer. But the members loved his girls and enthusiastically supported the meetings.

The meetings began in local auditoriums and then moved to the Adventist church for the last two weeks.

Pastor Danny preached at the Libby church several nights each week, sharing the good news of Jesus and describing the joy of living in God’s love. The church members came, and so did many from the community.

Among those attending the meetings was a young woman with a story Pastor Danny could never have imagined.

The Door Was Always Locked

She had been born into a Native American family on a reservation in Montana. “Blackfoot,” she would whisper, then lower her eyes. When she turned 8, her father sold her to a man who locked her in his basement and came only to feed and abuse her. Life was a chain of terrors, latched by fear and hate.

There were a few old books on a basement shelf, but she couldn’t read. She looked at the pictures in some of them and especially liked the ones in a very old Bible. She hid it every time she heard the man—the one she called “the Monster”—unlock the basement door.

Then the angel started coming. A tall, well-built, real male angel with large white wings and a bright smile. He liked to use the old Bible to patiently teach her its letters, words, and ideas. She loved the angel and loved his Bible teachings even more. He came often during the next several years.

So did the man. When he left, he always locked the door, then double-checked to be sure he had done a good job.

After reading the Bible with her one morning, the angel stood and nodded toward the door of her prison. “Everything is unlocked,” he said. “It’s safe for you to go now.”

Then the angel told her where she should go, describing a small A-frame church that she would find welcoming.

She stared at him, not daring to believe the freedom he was offering. Then the angel spoke again, this time as he guided her toward the always-locked door.

“Everything’s unlocked. It’s safe for you to go now. Remember to visit the small A-frame church I told you about. You can trust the pastor there.”

She moved slowly, tested the knob, and was overwhelmed when the door swung open. The upstairs door was also unlocked! So was the front door of the house that had imprisoned her for so long.

She stepped lightly, in case the Monster might discover her escape. But the house stayed silent.

Breathing hope, she slipped out the door and ran.

Laila and the Young One

One night the girl came to the meetings in the Libby auditorium. Pastor Danny did not know her, nor did he know Laila, the woman who brought her. He had never seen them before, but as he watched them, he saw the light of hope glowing in their eyes.

After the meeting he came over to the woman and girl.

“Hello, my name is Pastor Danny,” he said. The older woman shook his hand warmly and invited him to come visit them at her house. “We would like to learn more from the Bible,” Laila said.

The young one with the frightened eyes stayed close to the older woman, obviously terrified of Pastor Danny, and maybe of all men.

He knocked on their door later that week, and Laila welcomed him warmly. The young one sat nearby, her eyes down but her ears listening.

During his next visit Pastor Danny invited them to come to the church on Sabbath morning. “I think you will enjoy our church family,” he said, “and they will be happy to know you.”

Everything is unlocked. It’s safe for you to go now.

They came the next Sabbath, a terrified young girl clinging to the strong older woman. Pastor Danny welcomed them and introduced them to a deaconess who guided them to a seat with her near the front. “I’m glad you’ve come. You can trust Pastor Danny,” she said.

As he preached, Pastor Danny glanced often toward the new guests near the front, noticing that the appearance of the frightened young girl sitting beside Laila was changing as he spoke. Her terror-filled eyes were growing brighter, and the fear lines on her face were softening. Once, he thought she almost smiled.

He tried to reach them after the service, but they left quickly, and he was distracted by others who wanted to talk.

Laila and her young friend walked slowly down the street to where they were living. “Did you see the angel?” the young one asked. “Did you see the angel?”

“What do you mean?”

“The angel was with us in the church, standing right behind Pastor Danny. It was the same tall angel with big white wings who delivered me from the basement! He was standing behind Pastor Danny as he was preaching. He was telling me that we had come to the right place and that we should believe what Pastor Danny says. It’s all true, Laila. We can trust him!”

Laila smiled. This was the first time she had seen hope in her young friend’s eyes.

Pastor Danny visited their home several more times. The girl was still frightened, but relaxed when she remembered how the angel had stood behind this man while he was preaching. It was not easy, but she was learning to trust Pastor Danny and feel safe away from the Monster.

One day as they were visiting, she got up the courage to tell Pastor Danny her story and to describe how she had seen the angel standing behind him while he was preaching.

“I had been struggling with my call to the ministry,” Pastor Danny remembers as he tells me this story. “But when I heard her describe the angel who found her in the basement, and then how excited she was to see the same angel standing behind me as I was preaching, I knew I was doing exactly what God wanted me to do.”

The Shofar

Pastor Danny studied with them regularly, and they began planning for baptism. Once, he visited near the end of the month, after Laila had used all her monthly income.

While Pastor Danny and the young one talked in the front room, Laila quietly slipped back into the house and returned with her most treasured possession, a long Jewish shofar horn. It was a gift she had received from a friend who had taught her about how the Jewish people use shofars to praise God in worship. Now she held it out to Pastor Danny and asked if he knew how to blow it.

“Can you make it sing with worship notes?” Laila asked.

“I will try,” he answered.

They all tried blowing the worship notes, but ended up laughing at their scratchy sounds. As he was leaving, Laila asked Pastor Danny if he would accept the shofar as a gift. “I would like for you to have it,” she said.

“No, no. I could not take it from you,” Pastor Danny said. “You treasure it and are playing it quite well!”

They laughed again together and then talked more, especially about trusting God when everything seems to be falling apart. Finally Laila told him about their money being gone.

“Maybe I could buy the shofar from you?” he said. “I have $50 in my wallet and will give that to you as a down payment for the shofar. I’m sure it is worth much more.”

Laila graciously accepted the money and handed Pastor Danny the shofar.

“It is enough,” she said. “And this will care for our needs.”

They were in church the next Sabbath, beaming with the light of God’s joy.

Pastor Danny continues to pray for the safety of Laila and the young girl. He offers a prayer whenever he sits in his living room chair, the one beside the glass case that holds the beautifully polished shofar.