N MY morning devotions I had been reading Psalm 91.  Reading, "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;" in verse 5, I'd come to the conclusion that this verse must, in the context of today, refer to bullets, as, I'd thought, "Because where, today, does one encounter arrows?"

  

That very same day in high-school phys-ed. class, we were learning archery.  At the beginning of class, while collecting my equipment for that session, I felt the presence of someone very close, and even felt them brush up against the back of my leg.  I casually turned to see who it was.  There was no one anywhere near me... no where!  Having had experiences with angels before, and therefore being familiar with the experience, I therefore asked myself, "Could that have been an angel?  Should I be especially careful during this class?"

    

So I was, indeed, especially cautious during the class, and it went uneventfully.  Until the last few minutes.  With a few moments left in class time, and with all lines of archers having had their share of opportunities to shoot, there was still time left for one more round.  The teacher asked if anyone wanted one more turn, and I was one of those who stepped up.  He announced, "Knock your bows! (the command to place arrows into the bow strings).  Upon his command to shoot, an arrow flew from my left, glanced off my bow (which I was still knocking, so it was more at my side, than in front), and flew off elsewhere.

      

Quite shaken by the potential danger of what had just happened, I turned to the archer beside me and asked what had happened.  He, rather white with the realization of what might have happened, told me that he had pulled his arrow back too far, and gotten it stuck between the bow and bow string (something we'd been cautioned about), causing the arrow to fly laterally.

      

It was then that I remembered the warning that I had received at the beginning of class, and that I remembered what I had read in morning devotions.

     

Telling this event to someone that evening, they mentioned that it might be just as well to not try to re-interpret Scripture; that I might be better off understanding Scripture literally.