A man was lost while driving through the country. As he tried to reach for the map, he accidentally drove off the road into a ditch. Though he wasn’t injured, his car was stuck deep in the mud. So the man walked to a nearby farm to ask for help.

“Warwick can get you out of that ditch,” said the farmer, pointing to an old mule standing in a field. The man looked at the decrepit old mule and looked at the farmer who just stood there repeating, “Yep, old Warwick can do the job.” The man figured he had nothing to lose. The two men and the mule made their way back to the ditch. The farmer hitched the mule to the car. With a snap of the reins, he shouted,

“Pull, Fred! Pull, Jack! Pull, Ted! Pull, Warwick!”

And the mule pulled that car right out of the ditch.

The man was amazed. He thanked the farmer, patted the mule, and asked, “Why did you call out all of those names before you called Warwick?”

The farmer grinned and said, “Old Warwick is just about blind. As long as he believes he’s part of a team, he doesn’t mind pulling.”

I chuckled when I read this story because it reminded me of team-power. I thought of the times when someone else was pulling just as hard as I was at my side, and how, together, we accomplished something much greater than we could have done alone.

What about the times when no team members are in sight, though? The times when we feel alone, single and without a partner to pull with? Aw, but this is impossible, I realized. God’s angels are our team-members at all times. We’re never alone. Like Warwick. He was not alone. He was spiritually empowered to do the job, and his owner proved it, in a bit of a tricky way, but successfully.

God’s helper angels take different forms in our lives at different times. Sometimes an angel comes in the form of a person standing at our side pulling on the rope like we are, or a person offering encouragement and support from a distance. Other times angels take the form of courage, confidence, and inspiration from within that assures us the task will be accomplished without another person standing at our side.

We often never know ahead of time what form our angel-helper will take, but it will be there when we need it.

If we keep our thought open to what God sends our way, we’ll be ready for its arrival. If we outline physically what form we think the angel should take, we’re likely to miss its helpful presence altogether.

Like Warwick the mule, we can know ahead of time that we are part of a team—God’s team–of competent and able angels. Each of us are God’s angels.

When the command from above comes to “Pull,” we’ll start pulling without looking around first to determine whether we’ll succeed because we know we’re part of a team, and we know our whole team is always pulling with us. Our brother and sister angels will be working in full force along our side. And the stuck vehicle will come out of the ditch.

Have fun with your team today!