Y FAMILY HAD LEFT KASAMA, IN northern Zambia, for Lusaka, the capital city, in the south-central part of the country. When they reached Lusaka, my wife, Grace, had to look for a taxi to take the family to where they intended to spend the night and make final preparations for the rest of their journey to the United States. She instructed our three young children--the oldest 11 years old and the youngest 7--to stay with the luggage until she returned with a taxi.

After a few minutes Mwenya, the 7-year-old, decided to follow his mother to look for a taxi. When Grace returned, Mwenya was nowhere to be seen. They searched for him at the busy bus station and the surrounding central business district. When they could not locate him, fear gripped Grace and Mwenya's sisters. They couldn't help imagining the worst: perhaps the boy had been abducted. It was also possible that in such a busy place he could easily be seriously injured by one of the many speeding motorists, or crushed by the mass of busy people going from place to place. After conducting a frantic search, they could do no more than pray for his safety.

After a while they gave up searching and went to the police to report that Mwenya was missing. Then they took a taxi and went to stay at Grace's sister's home in Nyumba Yanga. They prayed for Mwenya, asking God to be with him wherever he was. Grace struggled with what she would tell her aunt in Kaunda Square the following day, and what she would tell me.

So Many Questions
The following day Grace visited her aunt's home in Kaunda Square. She could scarcely believe her eyes when she saw Mwenya run out of the house to greet her. Mwenya could not explain exactly how he found himself in Kaunda Square. He said he remembered only that he had asked a taxi driver to take him to Kaunda Square, and the man apparently gladly complied with his request.

How did Mwenya get to Kaunda Square? Nobody knows for sure.

First, Kaunda Square, like many residential areas in the country, doesn't have well-identified streets. Mail is delivered to post office boxes rather than homes. So it was not easy to locate Mwenya's aunt's home.

Second, there are two Kaunda Squares--Kaunda Square I and Kaunda Square II. How did he know how to direct the taxi driver to the right one?

Third, the language spoken in Lusaka is Chinyanja and/or English. Mwenya spoke only Chibemba at that time. How did he communicate with the driver?

Fourth, Mwenya had been in Lusaka four years earlier, when he was only 3 years old. For most of that time he did not stay in or visit Kaunda Square. He was too young to remember anything about it.

Questions for Reflection or for Use in Your Small Group 1. When has God answered your prayers in a manner you could hardly believe? Describe it briefly. 2. Are angels a convenient way to explain incidents that defy other human explanations? Does that add or detract from our understanding of supernatural beings? 3. What experiences have you had that led you to suspect that you might have been "touched by an angel"?

Fifth, he did not pay for his ride to Kaunda Square--about 11 miles (18 kilometers) from the city center. What taxi driver would voluntarily accept a passenger who had no visible means of paying the fare?

Finally, my family did not know Mwenya had gone to Kaunda Square until they arrived there the following day. My distraught wife had gone to Kaunda Square to announce her arrival in Lusaka and inform her aunt that Mwenya was missing (there was no phone to contact them).

So how Mwenya got to Kaunda Square is still a mystery. The only logical conclusion is that God intervened. I strongly believe that that taxi driver could have been an angel. I thank God for saving our son's life. God is definitely faithful, and He looks after the welfare of His people. Even today God still sends His angels to protect His people, to watch over them. God still answers the prayers of His helpless children. He deserves my worship.

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D. Chongo Mundende writes from Oklahoma, where he is a member of the Seventh-day Adventist church in Edmond.