A few years ago, I worked for a company that sent me out
on the road to some of their remote sites to do maintenance
work. These sites were, for the most part, open fields
approximately 100 to 160 acres in size.
On these sites were huge piles of metallic ores such as
manganese, beryllium, chromium, ferrochrome, and many
others. Occasionally, these fields would have to be mowed
and the buildings would need repairs, so I would go out and
do the repairs, and if the weeds and grass hadn't gotten too
much out of control, I would use a tractor with a brush hog
type mower and cut it back down.
Sometimes though, I'd have to call contractors to come
into the fields to mow the waist-high grass and weeds with
their heavier equipment.
This one particular site was in an isolated area of
central Pennsylvania that was prone to heavy rainstorms with
an extraordinary amount of lightning, possibly attracted to
the area by all the ore piles. It was surrounded by a
10-foot high cyclone fence for security, with gates to allow
access to a road that went through the center of the
property.
That day was another very hot, mid-August day, and I
could see Kevin (the contractor) on the far side of the
road, traveling back and forth across the field, baking in
the hot sun.
Around 1:30 P.M., I noticed some very heavy rain clouds
coming over the nearby hills and knew that another storm was
coming. I waited awhile to make sure that we actually were
going to get rained out before calling Kevin in from the
open area, hoping to let him get as much mowing done as
possible.
When the sky started to darken and the wind picked up, I
hopped into my pick-up truck and went out to the field to
call him back to the building.
As I stood by the edge of the field waving to Kevin,
signaling him to get back to the shop building, the first
few heavy raindrops began falling. Then, as the first burst
of lightning lit up the sky and the first crash of thunder
shook the air, Kevin sailed passed me on his tractor like an
eighteen wheeler on Interstate 80.
After locking the gate on that side of the road, I got
back into my pick-up and pulled inside the second gate. The
latch was broken on this gate and I had to wrap a short
length of chain around the gatepost and then through the
edge of the gate.
By then the lightning was closer and the rain was just
starting to get a little heavier. I shoved the thick chain
around the post and threaded it through the diamond-shaped
openings in the fence on the gate and held both ends in my
one hand.
Next I took the open lock off the fence, where it had
been hanging, with my other hand. Just when I was about to
put the lock on the chain, a gnat flew into my open right
eye.
That stung!
It stung so much that I instantly dropped the lock and
the chain and put my hands to my eye, taking one step back
at the same time.
Not a second later, lightning struck that fence somewhere
close by, and I saw the whole fence in front of me light up
and glow bright blue.
That beautiful but lethal shade of light blue from
high-voltage radiation nearly filled in all those little
diamond-shaped openings in the fence.
I stood there awe struck as I realized what had just
happened.
I was standing, wet, in rain, holding onto a chain that
was threaded through a metal fence that was just about to be
struck by lightning, when an insignificant insect, an
annoying pest, a bug, flew into my eye and saved my life.
I was completely unharmed, not even a tingle.
Now, I've always believed that we each have a guardian
angel, but I don't know for sure how they do their work. At
night when I lie down to go to sleep, I thank those guardian
angels for the work that they do. Who knows how many times
they saved my life and I don't even know about it.
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