Glenn's Diary

Chapter 3

28th July 2005

Ease his Pain

I broke my leg just over a week ago; 19th July 2005. At 51 I decided I needed some incentive to keep in shape. I struggle to get motivated to get to a gym.

My damaged left foot prevents me from road running and swimming seems a chore; so I bought an Enduro bike (Like a motocross bike.) so I could ride to green lanes and motocross tracks and keep fit. I love to ride motorbikes, so this was a great way for me to keep fit.

It was working too. This was around my tenth ride out. I'd met up with some other lads; about seven of us took off to trail ride and 'chase' each other around.

Riding a motocross bike on rough terrain at speed is like riding a bucking bronco, with the added excitement of acceleration to 60mph in 2.5 seconds and breaking hard to stop. I overshot a corner and crashed the bike.

Crashing is pretty normal in this sport, without injury; but on this occasion I tumbled down a bumpy grassy bank with the bike on top of me. The bike broke my leg over one of the bumps. I was so winded, that when I tried to sit up, I nearly fainted. It took a few seconds before I could take a deep breath. As I lay there winded, my friend came and helped me up.

As I stood, I got excruciating pain in my right foot as I felt the ligaments and bones realigning themselves. I could feel them all knitting back together into position. I could move my foot in all directions, but at certain points as I stood, I got searing pain. My friend tried to kick up the bike for me without success.

The bike is a 400cc single cylinder four stroke competition machine. They are of the most difficult bikes to kick start because of their high compression. You have to be pretty strong and pretty fit to get one started.

I knew I had to get home to get checked out and we were in the middle of no-where. I seemed to be able to walk in a fashion, so I got on the bike and got my friend to support the bike as I tried to kick start it. Little did I know that I was trying to kick start the bike with a broken leg.

That night, in casualty, my worst suspicion was confirmed: A broken tibia of the right leg at the joint above the ankle. Six weeks minimum in plaster. It was the beginning of the six weeks holidays for our two young boys. We'd got all sorts of day trips planned, and I'd let the family down. I felt a right Pratt.

Jill tells me that spirit have a way of making things happen, if you don't collaborate with them with something they're insistent upon. What better way to get me to write about my pain, than to ‘give’ me some; immobilise me and get me thinking about writing.

My biggest problem was where do I begin? I couldn't get my head around why anyone would want to listen to, or read about the ranting of a 'nobody'. I'm not a celebrity. I'm not a famous or upcoming novelist. I'm not a missionary or Saint. Hell; I don't even believe in God, or have a recognised religion. I'm just an average bloke who's had his fair share of ups and downs; or so I thought.

I've never seen myself as too much different to Joe Average, other than I'm a self-starter, with more determination than most people; don't readily take 'No' for an answer and keep persevering to find happiness.

That is of course; until Archangel Azrael contacted me. What really gave me the paradigm shift was when Jill told me she didn't know who Archangel Azrael is, or was; or what an Indigo Child is.

Archangel Azrael

According to Sarah at

www.sarahsarchangels.com

In Muslim and Islam theology, Archangel Azrael is the Angel of Death who is forever writing in a large book and forever erasing what he writes: What he writes is the birth of man and woman. What he erases is the name of the man or woman at death.

Other faiths name the Angel of Death as a different angel: In Judeo-Christian lore, Archangel Michael, Archangel Gabriel, Sammael, and Sariel all named as the Angel of Death.

In Zoroastrianism, the angel of death is Mairya.

In Babylon it’s Mot.

In Rabbinical lore there are 14 Angels of Death: Yetzerhara, Adriel, Yehudiam, Abaddon, Sammael, Archangel Azrael, Archangel Metatron, Archangel Gabriel, Mashhit, Hemah, Malach ha-Mavet, Kafziel, Kesef, and Leviathan.

In Falasha lore it is Suriel.

The Arabic angel is Archangel Azrael.

Jewish lore says this angel is Rahab, who, lore goes on to say, was destroyed by God for refusing to part the waters of the red sea. The new Angel of Death then became Yama (Malach ha-Mavet).

The Talmud says the Angel of Death was equated with Satan, and thus became the legend that the angel of death was evil, rather than the good angel he is.

Archangel Azrael, also known as Izra'il, one of the four Archangels of Islam (Mikhail, Djibril, and Israfil), is pictured as having gigantic proportions: one foot rests in either the forth or the seventh heaven, while the other is on the bridge between hell and paradise.

Supposedly Archangel Azrael brought God a handful of earth from which to create Adam and therefore earned his title as the Angel of Death. Izra'il keeps a roll of humanity, on which the names of the damned are circle in black and the names of the blessed, in light.

When a person's day of death approaches, a leaf with the person's name on it falls from the tree beneath God's throne. After forty days have passed, Izra'il must sever the individual's soul from his or her body.

Archangel Azrael will be the last to die, but will do so at the second trump of the Archangel. He is the angel who accompanies your soul to Heaven.

The phrase 'the Wings of Archangel Azrael' refers to the approach of death; the signs of death coming on the dying.

Call on this angel at those times of grief to comfort those loved ones left behind.

If you want to know a lot more about Archangel Azrael got to www.songofArchangel Azrael.org

According to www.angelicartistry.com the Archangel Azrael is forever writing on a large scroll and forever erasing what he's written. He writes the birth of a person and erases the name of a person when they die. It's the sacred duty of Archangel Azrael to summon the departed spirit into the arc, so the journey to the other side can begin.

It's Archangel Azrael's responsibility to separate the human body from the soul at the moment of death. He does this with compassion granting the newly released spirit complete freedom.

He transmits a feeling of great love and he makes new arrivals aware of the presence of a friend, who knows what's about to happen, and can explain to the new arrival. Anyone who's had an encounter with Archangel Azrael describe him as dark, very quiet and not at all menacing as portrayed by others.

He's not the foreboding apparition portrayed across centuries, probably because of what his name: 'The Angel of Death' invokes. Apparently Archangel Azrael is the most sensitive, gentle angel of God's creation.

According to Hebrew and Islamic translation, Archangel Azrael means 'Whom God helps'.

Apparently he was given the number of eyes and tongues to equal the population of the world.

He is commonly known as the Grim Reaper, The Angel of Death, The Dark Angel, Azril and Izrail. When you consider that Archangel Azrael is the writer, it seems ironic that he wishes to use the same medium to contact the world of people in pain, which is partly what has made me a believer.

I can't help thinking about the film, "Field of Dreams," the baseball film, starring Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones. Kevin keeps hearing a spiritual voice talking to him saying, "If you build it, they will come!" It turns out that the message was for Kevin to build a baseball pitch on his new crop farm, at the risk of losing everything. He'd find out later that the baseball pitch, referred to as the Field of Dreams, would bring back all the American baseball heroes, who'd passed away, to play baseball together.

I've watched the film around 10 times since it was first made and I've cried rivers associating it with my parenthood.

"Ease his pain!"

The next message Kevin kept hearing was, "Ease his pain!" It's referring to his father, an average professional baseball player who pushed Kevin into baseball, but as a youngster, Kevin tired of the constant baseball practice. They fell out when Kevin was a teenager and they didn't speak for years; but then his father died before they ever made up; just about that time when Kevin realised that baseball was a major part of his life.

The pain ironically turned out to be Kevin's: never being able to make up with his father, to play some 'ball' before he died. Kevin's pain was ‘missing the love of his father’.

Unknown to Kevin, his father would appear on the Field of Dreams as a young man at the height of his baseball career, and they played ball together for one last time. James Earl Jones's pain in the film was that he never got to play Major League Baseball; and he finally got to play with the greats on the field of dreams.

I'd highly recommend this film to anyone who can associate with wishing they could turn the clock back, to get that love from a parent.

Although this is a film, the resemblance to my quest is uncanny. I've been asked to "Ease their pain!" And just like Kevin Costner in the film, I don't really know or fully understand what I'm doing. And just like the message that Kevin got: "If you build it, they will come," my message was, "I will send them!" Can you believe it, I'm even sat here (with a broken leg) shedding tears as I write this? I'll see if I can persuade Jill to watch Field of Dreams with me tonight…again!!

LESSON

If you're estranged from your parents, don't wait until it's too late to make amends. It doesn't matter if you still think it's their fault. Let it go! Go and see them. If they were loving before, chances are they still will be. Life's not a dress rehearsal. Time waits for no-one. Next week may be too late.

If they never had the love to give in the first place; then welcome to the club. Learn to give your love to others and you'll find it comes back to you.