Some time ago, I attended the first meeting of an Alpha course run by my local church, just out of curiosity. There were about 20 people there, about 19 of them (excluding me) already regular members of the local church community. No sign of the bands of happy-clappy teenagers seen in Alpha course promotions, but that's another story.

One of the attendees was a kindly elderly gentleman of about 70 who told me something of his life story. He was a native Dutchman who was living in Holland at the time the Second World War broke out. Being a fit young man at the time, he was arrested by the Germans and shipped off to do forced labour in Switzerland. After the war, he moved to England and got married. Shortly after, his wife contracted a terminal illness and he looked after her for a few years until she died. During that time he managed to get a job with a sympathetic employer close to his home, who allowed him to take the time off that he needed to look after his sick wife.

Now here was a man whose homeland had been invaded, his early life ruined, his compatriots, friends and relatives suffering the ravages of war, he himself being forcibly taken from home and made to work for an oppressor (and who knows what kind of things he saw and experienced during that time), then, just when he must have thought that the bad times were over, his wife is taken from him.

And can you guess what he said to me? He thanked God for finding him a job where he could be close to home to look after his wife.

I hadn't the heart to debate the issue with him and point out the obvious. Sometimes it's better just to let things be.

Recently I overheard two female relatives talking about health matters. One related how for many years she had suffered from what she thought was acute indigestion or heartburn which had severely limited her ability to enjoy food. She had been taking a common medication to help, but the condition did not seem to improve. Then a new (female) doctor moved to her locality and my relative went to see her. The doctor insisted on carrying out a range of tests including endoscopy, which revealed a severely ulcerated oesophagus. The doctor said that my relative was very close to developing Barrett's disease (a serious and uncurable disease where the lining of the oesophagus is damaged by reflux of stomach acid) and this had been discovered "not a moment too soon".

My relative's conclusion from this? - "There must have been a guardian angel watching over me".

I don't know about you, but if I had a friend (or guardian angel) who had known for several years about a serious illness that I had, known exactly what it was, allowed me to continue taking inappropriate medication, then waited until the condition was critical before enlightening me, I'd be pretty annoyed. I expect a higher standard from my guardian angels.