Team Mates
A horse team typically pulled the hay wagon. (Courtesy Photo)
Special to United Methodist Insight | July 10, 2025
The scriptures are filled with stories about angels. There are, in fact, almost 300 references to angels in the bible, 108 in the Old Testament and 177 in the New Testament.
In my “vision” and “angel” seminars I ask people to share their favorite angel story from scripture and one from their life today. What is amazing is that there are a great many people who have a contemporary angel story to tell; their own or one they have heard from a family member or friend.
Angel visitations are the stuff of everyday life, although we don’t always understand immediately what we have experienced.
Horses bolting
A horse-drawn hay wagon with bolting horses. (Courtesy Photo)
My colleague, Larry Winebrenner, who once served churches in Wisconsin, sent me this angel story he heard from his grandmother. It has the characteristics of a tall tale but has been handed down in his family as a real event. Can an angel take the form of a horse? You decide.
“Joachim Christopher Martens believed in angels, especially the Angel of Peace. He migrated to the United States from Bremen, Germany to escape war. He found in western Pennsylvania a land just like home. Almost. The farm he bought had shale fields. To grow corn, he lifted a piece of shale, dropped a kernel of corn, let the shale down on it and poured a tin can of water on top of it.
“To grow hay, he plowed a field atop a hill behind his barn and farmhouse. He sowed the seed, mowed the hay when it had matured, raked it into piles, and loaded it on a hay wagon pulled by two horses-Blackie and Bruce. Pulled the load? He guided the wagon down the steep hill and into the barn. By strenuous braking and the holding back by Blackie and Bruce, the wagon barely stopped on the threshing floor of the barn. The hay was then tossed by hand into the haymow in the top of the barn. Once unloaded, the wagon departed through a second door. This time the wagon was pulled up the hill for another load.
“Now Chris, as they called Joachim Christopher Martens, had a little 2-year-old angel he adored named Flora Blanche. Sometimes he would let her place the corn kernels under the shale pieces. Sometimes he would let her ride on Bruce's back to the stable after Bruce was unhitched from the wagon following a day's work. And sometimes he'd just walk carefully when little Flora Blanche was under his feet as he went about the chores.
“Chris had never bought any of his other children toys. “Waste of money," he said. But he bought Flora Blanche a doll. Her favorite place to play with the doll was in the barn on the threshing floor. She would pretend the doll was tossing hay up into the haymow, or that the doll was riding Bruce to the stable.
“Chris had warned Flora Blanche not to play in the barn when he was making hay. "I can't stop the horses until they are completely on the threshing floor," he had explained. But what does a 2-year-old understand about horses and threshing floors? So one day she was playing on the threshing floor just as Chris was hauling back on the brake lever to slow the wagon on its descent down the hill. As the horses guided the wagon into a turn to enter the barn, Chris saw her. He was already pulling on the brake lever with all his might.
“ ‘Gott im himmel!’ he cried as he yanked on the reins to hold the horses back. But at that moment Bruce took the bit in his teeth, and it was useless to pull on his reins. Chris could visualize the big hoofs kicking the little girl senseless – or worse, the large iron-banded wheels rolling over her like a great buzz saw, cutting her in half. He was crazy with agony. His only thought was to shoot Bruce for taking the bit in his teeth.
“Then the miracle happened. As Bruce reached Flora Blanche, he let go of the bit. He reached down. He grabbed her dress in his teeth. He picked her up. He gently put her back down when the wagon stopped. The Martens family ever after claimed Bruce was an angel in disguise. And Chris didn't shoot him.”
Larry says, “This is a true story that happened to my grandmother as a girl. I've heard family members repeat it many times.”
Larry Winebrenner is professor emeritus of Miami-Dade Community College, after 33 years of teaching. He served as pastor of churches in Georgia, Florida, Indiana and Wisconsin, retiring after 13 years as pastor of York Memorial UMC in Miami. Larry has authored two college textbooks, served as an editor for three newspapers and an academic journal, and contributed articles to several magazines.
John Sumwalt
The Rev. John Sumwalt is a retired pastor and the author of “Sharing Visions: Divine Revelations, Angels & Holy Coincidences,” Send your favorite angel story to johnsumwalt@gmail.com.