A Little Help From My Friends

“Holy shit dad, look!”   I’m sure that’s what he would’ve said if he were a little older. It’s what I would have said if I were in his shoes.

In front of us, a blatant display of angelic ingenuity had manifested from an ordinary, everyday situation.

It started as we were looking for a parking space near the mall entrance. We were in a hurry and needed to get in and out as fast as possible. Unfortunately, a dinosaur exhibit was attracting a large number of people. Since all the open parking spaces were far away, it seemed we were going to have to “hoof it” when I got an idea… a chance to explain, and hopefully demonstrate the always available help of our heavenly hosts.

“Patch,” I said,” let’s ask our Angels for help.” “How?” He replied.

I then took the opportunity to create an audible prayer asking for a parking space close to the entrance. I told our invisible helpers why we were making such a request and gave thanks in advance. I then explained to Patrick that no request is too small or too large in the eyes of the divine; that our sincere requests are always being heard and that embracing our spiritual heritage as a part of our everyday life was, at least to me, an important way to live.

He listened attentively as I drove up and down the aisles of cars. Then, sure enough, just as I finished speaking, a car only three spaces from the entrance was pulling out. He looked at me in disbelief. I just smiled in return. As we pulled into the newly created space, his eyes lit up and his jaw dropped open as he pushed himself up and pointed over the dashboard at the car parked in front of us. There on the license plate, as an apparent affirmation of my little sermon, was a single word. It said “Amen.”