Omran and the Angels of Aleppo

The other day I came across this image via Peter S. Williams’ Twitter feed.

Very moved by this amazing picture by the artist Judith Mehr, who wanted to depict Omran from Aleppo in the care of angels. pic.twitter.com/heDO12Y7x5

— Paula Gooder (@paulargooder) December 16, 2016

This is a fascinating picture which juxtaposes a contemporary viral image from the 24 hour news feed with classic Christian iconography. While the horrors of this world are undeniable, God (and his agents) work behind the scenes, healing, protecting, encouraging, and bringing redemption and his Kingdom.

Sometimes one might get a peak behind the veil. But other times — too many times — it seems that God is not visible or active in the carnage of our world. And for goodness sake, where are his angels?

But I have news for you. If you go to Aleppo you can see God’s angels working in the midst of the rubble, saving and comforting children like Omran everyday. The ones you can see are flesh and blood human beings. They’re called the White Helmets, and they are an extraordinary group of civilian volunteers who work tirelessly in Aleppo and surrounding regions to dig people out of bombed buildings.

Over the last five years the White Helmets have saved more than 70,000 people, including this infant who was dug out of the rubble in 2014 (and is a healthy precocious toddler today):

Tragically, the man who pulled that infant from the rubble, 31 year old father and husband Khaled Omar, was killed in a Russian airstrike this past August.

Omar worked tirelessly to save the innocent. Day after day he would plunge into the darkened rubble to seek out human lives, ever wary of the bombs that could end his life in an instant. He didn’t seek fortune or fame, he only sought the next life he could save. A hero by any measure, one whose dusty work boots I am not worthy to clean, and yet just another one of the angels of Aleppo.

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