“Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit Salvation?”
— Hebrews 1:14

“Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some
people have entertained angels without knowing it.”
— Hebrews 13:2

“The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone.”
— George Eliot (pen name for Mary Anne Evans),
English novelist (1819-1880)

“All God’s angels come to us disguised.”
— James Russell Lowell,
American poet (1819-1891)

By today’s standards, The Beast at King’s Island amusement park in Mason, Ohio, isn’t nearly as tall or fast or scream-inducing as its modern roller coaster counterparts.

But during the late 1970s and early ’80s, precious few roller coasters were as thrilling — or scary — as The Beast. The giant wooden roller coaster sprawled across 35 acres, boasted a 135-foot hill, dropped riders 141 feet and hit a top speed of nearly 65 miles per hour along its 7,359 feet of track. The ride lasted four and a half minutes — an eternity to some, a heartbeat to others.

Whether they feared it or chose to conquer it, The Beast captivated everyone who gazed upon it.

To an 18-year-old Darren Lassiter, however, it was a dragon, coiled and ready to strike if he dared climb onto its back. And while the ample teenage doses of testosterone coursing through his veins begged him to ride the deadly monster, fear won out.

So, Lassiter instead picked up one of the three books he toted with him on his high school field trip and ignored the screams, whistles and cheers dropping from The Beast on a warm early June day while the rest of his 114 classmates reveled in the amusement park’s rides, games and junk food.

After a particularly loud scream fell from The Beast, Lassiter looked up from his book briefly ... and then reburied his nose in its pages and leaned back into the park bench he had occupied alone for much of the past hour.

I don’t want to be here anyway. I would have rather spent the day in school than going on this boring field trip. Wish my uncle hadn’t forced me to do this.

“Excuse me, young man, but is this bench taken?”

Annoyed by the interruption, Lassiter quickly glanced up at a man standing dangerously close to the border of his personal space.

“All yours,” he mumbled and continued reading.

“Thanks a million,” the man shot back as he sat down and stretched his legs. “Sure is a warm one today. Might have to get one of those lemonade slushes to ward off the heat.”

Lassiter nodded slightly, hoping the small talk would cease soon. He was uncomfortable talking to peers or family members that he had known for years. Chatting with a stranger was well outside of his comfort zone. What little there was of that.

“Have you tried that one yet?”

Lassiter closed his book. He had a chatty one here. As much as he didn’t want to talk to this guy, he didn’t want to be rude either.

“Pardon?”

“Have you ridden The Beast yet?” the man asked, pointing to the roller coaster’s tallest hill as another cart of screaming thrill-seekers slid down its back.

“Um, no.”

“Well, why not? I thought all teenage boys lived for riding coasters.”

“Roller coasters and amusement parks aren’t my thing,” Lassiter said. “I wanted to stay behind at school today, but my uncle made me go.”

“Oh. I see,” the man said, still staring at the gigantic ride.

Lassiter wasn’t a very good judge of age, but the man appeared to be in his late 50s or early 60s. He had short, scraggly grayish hair and a large, round and wrinkled face sitting atop a large, round and wrinkled body. And no
wonder he was hot, this guy was wearing overalls, a pair of tattered, brown work boots and a slightly stained red T-shirt. The bench creaked and groaned every time he shifted his considerable weight.

This guy just stepped off of the farm, Lassiter thought. He smells a bit like that farm, too.

“Have you ever ridden a roller coaster?”

Lassiter looked into the man’s eyes, perhaps the darkest pools of black he had ever seen. They reflected a warm kindness, though. He didn’t even know this man’s name, but he immediately felt safe enough to at least talk to him.

“Nope.”

“What about your friends … do they ride roller coasters?”

Do you see any friends here, mister? Lassiter thought. I’m sitting on an amusement park bench reading books while my classmates are riding roller coasters, eating popcorn or playing carnival games. Do I look like I have any semblance of a normal life?

“Um … I don’t really have many friends,” Lassiter said, staring at the ground. “To tell you the truth, I don’t have any close friends. Just a few I talk to at school or church now and then.”

Lassiter couldn’t believe he was telling anybody this stuff, let alone a stranger. He couldn’t remember the last time he spoke this much to anyone at one sitting.

“No friends, really? Surely you have at least one good friend,” the man said, a wry smile forming on his face.

Lassiter considered that for a moment. Yes, he did have one great friend. A friend who was always there for him. A friend he could always talk to whenever he wanted. A friend who would never desert him. A friend he loved and who loved him back more than he could imagine.
But Lassiter was a bit hesitant to reveal his friend’s name.

“I bet you have one.”

“Jesus,” Lassiter whispered.

“Who?”

“Um, Jesus Christ,” Lassiter replied, a little stronger, louder and more confident. And a little shocked at what came out of his mouth.

“Ah yes, Jesus!” the man said loudly, punctuated by a wide grin. “I’m pretty good friends with Him, too.”

Then he briefly broke into song. “What a friend we have in Jesus! All our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!”

Even though Lassiter didn’t
consider himself close to any of his classmates, he suddenly hoped none of them was watching this strange man busting out hymns.
Then the man stood up, the clasps on his overalls jingling, the park bench rejoicing.

“That settles it. You and I are going to ride The Beast.”

“Um … I don’t know. I’ve never ridden anything like that before,” Lassiter said, the pool of fear still accumulating in his stomach.

“We’ll be fine. Jesus will be riding, too. Can’t go wrong with a passenger like that,” the man said, adding a wink.

Lassiter had a feeling that this guy wasn’t going to take no for an answer, so he swallowed hard and accepted the offer.

“OK, I’ll go,” he said, grabbing his books and standing up. “My name is Darren Lassiter, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Darren,” the man said, offering his hand. “I am Mike. Let’s go conquer The Beast.”

Moments later Lassiter wished he had turned Mike down. The car was slowly clicking and clacking its way to the top of a hill that seemed to have no precipice. And they were sitting at the front of the car, at Mike’s insistence, no less.

While they ascended The Beast, Lassiter said a quick silent prayer that his life wouldn’t end as a tangled heap in the belly of The Beast. Mike, of course, didn’t stop talking.

“I’ve noticed that people act in one of two ways while riding to the top of a roller coaster,” Mike said, his arms already up in the air. Lassiter’s hands were folded tightly in his lap. “They usually either clam up or cackle away. They either internalize their fear or excitement or chatter that nervous energy right out of their mouths.”

“Then I’m a clam and you’re a cackler,” Lassiter said, smiling and feeling a bit more relaxed. Nearly everybody else along for the ride seemed to be cacklers, too. Although the two young men sitting directly behind them were clams like Lassiter. The rest were yelling and screaming, and the ride hadn’t hit the scary part yet.

As they neared the top, Mike leaned toward Lassiter and said, “It would be interesting to know what the quiet ones are thinking, huh? Are they thinking about all the things that could go wrong with the ride, or thinking about something entirely different to quiet their fear? Maybe some just go numb and there’s nothing going on upstairs.”

Lassiter didn’t answer Mike. He was in full clam-up mode now.
But then he suddenly thought he could hear someone talking inside his head, like a stereo just got switched on.

“He’s scared about his future.”

“Huh?”

Lassiter looked around the car and then at Mike.

What was that? That was like somebody placed a loudspeaker in my brain and made a quick announcement.

Then he heard it again.

“He’s also scared about his future.”

Mike reached out and placed his hand over Lassiter’s folded hands.

“Darren, your life is about to change in a dramatic and exciting fashion. But always remember to take your friend Jesus along for the ride — it will have as many peaks and valleys as this ride. You will travel all over this country telling others about your best friend. And you’ll have instant insight into the people you meet that would make even the most successful street evangelist a bit jealous. Your shyness will fade away and be replaced by bold authority. It will not always be easy, but if you keep your eyes on Jesus, you won’t go wrong.”

Lassiter was suddenly afraid, more so of Mike and the
loudspeaker in his head than of The Beast. He looked at his arms and they were covered in goose bumps.

They were now slowly going over the edge, waiting for the back of the car to catch up and send them plummeting to the bottom of the vast hill. Lassiter felt his stomach dangling on a thread, much like cart they were riding in.

“What are you talking about? Did you just hear something strange? Who are you?”

“No time for answers, Darren,” Mike said. “Just enjoy the ride.”

And then the car hurtled down the hill. Lassiter screaming, Mike singing.

After the ride, a dazed Lassiter stepped out of the car and stumbled toward the exit along with the others. He had just been taken on a long and scary ride, but all he could think about was what Mike had said to him about his life changing and that voice he heard inside his head. Now he could grill Mike about all of that.

But when he turned around to ask him, Mike was gone. Lassiter looked all over, but didn’t see him anywhere. Where could he have gone so quickly? He disappeared.

“Fine. Ditch me then,” Lassiter mumbled to himself, but more goose bumps formed and the back of his neck felt a chill.

Wait a minute. Could he have been ... No way! I couldn’t have just taken my first roller coaster ride with an ... an angel!