Entertaining Angels

I gently pulled back on the stick and raised the nose of the Champ trainer and in that one smooth motion experienced my first take off from a snow covered surface on skis. As I climbed away from the ultra white surface of the frozen field, I tentatively turned the nose to climb in a northerly track that had been set by my flight instructor who sat in the seat directly behind me. We had travelled to the main base of Orillia Airways in order to return the plane to its northern home at a satellite base. I remember that there was only enough daylight remaining to get us safely to Trout Lake near the city of North Bay. As I slowly climbed to our cruising altitude, I was quietly concerned with the ever increasing grayness in the sky ahead of us. Indeed it was too dark for the time of day and the latest weather report that we had received prior to take off.

In a matter of minutes, the clouds thickened and the snow pellets began to hit the windshield with ever increasing audibility and regularity. I was not surprised when I heard the familiar words, “ I have control” meaning that I was to relinquish control to the flight instructor who was about to display some real bush pilot skills. The snow squalls became so intense that we had one choice and that was to land. As Cliff (I have long since forgotten his last name) began a turning descent attempting to go around the worst of the clouds, I set about the task of looking for a suitable lake upon which to land. A medium sized lake ideal for our purposes loomed out of the blinding snow. Cliff made a partial circuit and decided out loud that we had little choice and on the positive side, the lake appeared to be fully frozen. With little ceremony he turned into wind and after completing a cursory landing checklist, landed on the lake surface. Oddly, in my mind at least, he kept the aircraft moving at a velocity closer to lift off speed than taxiing speed. As we headed straight towards the beach, he asked me to turn around in my seat and report any open water in our wake. To my horror, I observed and duly reported that indeed there was slush and water being kicked up behind us by our quickly moving skis. Cliff simply lodged the airplane up on the beach just out of the slushy ice. The wet tracks of our skis stretched out behind us for most of the length of the lake.

As darkness approached, we realized that only an unoccupied cottage might provide us some shelter from the storm and the surprisingly cold night. Behind the cottages, we found a plowed road and before long we presented ourselves cold and desperate at a farm house door. The elderly couple welcomed us immediately into their home. Cliff used their single black party line phone to report our safe but unexpected arrival to his employers. I called my parents to explain why I would not be home that night. I was eighteen years of age. Within minutes, a hot and plentiful supper was on the table and we were invited to spend the night in a large loft which was heated by one ascending black stove pipe on its journey from their well stoked wood stove to the roof and the now clear night sky.

I marvel as I grow older at the hospitality afforded two strangers in the night. This wonderful couple displayed no concern for their safety and seemed to relish the prospect of having visitors to share their meal and their home. I will always remember their kindness, an excellent meal and indeed their good humour.

The recent memory of the experience has brought to mind the words of Hebrews 13:2.

2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.

It occurs to me that their actions were indeed biblical. I am fairly certain that on that winter night in 1966, this kind and hospitable couple fell far short of their possible aim of entertaining angels. If it could happen to Abraham and Sarah as described in the Book of Genesis, why could it not happen to them or indeed to any of us? In Chapter 18, the account of three men paying a visit to inform Sarah that she was to become a mother despite her very advanced years is one such example of angelic beings enjoying the hospitality of mere mortals.

After a hearty farm breakfast, we walked back to the frozen Champ and after some initial difficulties started and warmed the engine, freed the skis from the frozen snow and set out to take off for home. Despite the very cold minus twenty fahrenheit degree overnight temperatures, the lake was still slushy on the surface of the hopefully solid ice. Cliff actually taxied at ever increasing speeds around the edge of the lake until such time as he could achieve a take off speed as he turned into wind that morning. I will never forget the wake of watery slush churning behind us as we lifted into the air.

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