Ali and The Angel

chicken soup for the soul
A few days after Thanksgiving, the pastor of a small church in South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was shopping at a large mall north of Milwaukee. He wandered into a temporary store set up just for the holiday season, which contained one-of-a-kind statues and sculptures purchased from museums all over the world. Most of the stunning brass and bronzes statues were life size.

As Pastor Ron wandered down the first aisle, he looked at the prices, thousands of dollars for each. He wondered who could possibly afford to put one of those statues in their home. Certainly no one from my small church, he mused.

Pastor Ron wandered up another aisle when he saw it. The Angel, an incredible angel... approximately four feet tall, cast bronze, with a sixth-foot wing span and the most beautiful face the pastor had ever seen. Thinking about the memorial room he was dreaming about for the back of his church, he stepped forward and turned over the price tag. He gasped when he saw $7,000 in neat black letters. Just then a tall striking gentleman who seemed to be of Middle Eastern descent walked up.
* "May I be of help? The Angel, she is beautiful, yes?"
* "Oh, without doubt, the most beautiful angel I've ever seen," Pastor Ron said wistfully. "But unfortunately I need to look at something much smaller." He followed the dark-haired man to the rear of the store where he pointed out another angel, this one is only eighteen inches tall.
* "No, this is too small," Pastor Ron said. Even the little angel was beyond the price range for his church.

"We want to build a memorial." Pastor Ron began,"but we don't have much money to..." He stopped talking when he realized that the salesman was no doubt of a different faith and perhaps wouldn't understand. He took a deep breath and started to thank the man for his time, when the salesman spoke.

* "Tell me again, what is it you need the angel for?"
"Our church. I'm the pastor of a small church in South Milwaukee. We want to build a memorial, a sort of hospitality room in the back of our church, a place where we can remember all of our deceased members. A place where we can celebrate the living as well. We'll have a bulletin board for photos of weddings, baptisms, and I, well, I've been hoping to find an angel to preside over this place of prayer and hospitality.
*
"I see," said the tall, serious man as he pulled a calculator out of his pocket. "My name is Ali," he said. "I am the owner and the manager, we travel all over the country with this exquisite museum pieces." Pastor Ron felt his shoulder sink as he thought to himself, 'Even if he gives a discount of 20, or 50 percent we still can't afford this angel.' He began to feel uncomfortable. Finally Ali finished fiddling with the calculator,
*
" How does this look?" he said as he held the calculator in front of Pastor Ron' eyes. Pastor Ron's head jerked back when he saw the figure.
*
"$ 1,600? Are you sure? You do mean the large angel, the one priced at $ 7,000?"
*
"Yes."
*
"But why?" It was all Pastor Ron could mutter. Ali spoke softly.
*
"Because I, too, am a spiritual man. I am a Muslim, I would rather see this angel in a house of prayer than in someone's home. All I ask that on the day you put this angel in your church you ask your people to pray for Ali."

On the day Ali and his father delivered the angel to the little church in South Milwaukee, Pastor Ron began to understand a little more about angels. He learned that not all angels are gilded with copper and bronze. Not all of them have wings and small delicate faces. Some of them are tall with dark hair and black moustaches. One of them is a Muslim named Ali.
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