Life Matters - February 12, 2025

God has protected me. And I’ve kept that promise. But gazing into the trusting face of my firstborn, I knew deep in my heart that reform was not enough. I needed more. ‘’God,’’ I whispered, ‘’I don’t know how to do this.’’ And so began a search. God clearly showed me, by His Word and Spirit, that I was lost, and doomed, because sin was so natural to me. I repented of my sins. And for the first time I experienced (and continue to grow in) the love, peace, comfort, and joy, emanating from the forgiveness and salvation Jesus Christ has bought for us with His shed blood! I thank our firstborn for leading me to Christ before she was a year old!

During the aforementioned three week coma, I experienced a number of profound and unforgettably clear visions, dreams, (or was one out-of-the-body?) events that shaped my thinking, then and still.

The one where I question whether I was out of the body or in the body (God knoweth) was the experience at the door of eternity where I clearly saw myself in a fetal position, on my left side with my head on the threshold of an open door beyond which I knew was eternity and through which I expected to pass at any moment.

The experience of seeing myself lying there, and knowing it was myself, does seem a clear indicator of being out-of-the-body. Perhaps some would call it a vision. Whatever it was, I do know this; I saw what I saw and felt what I felt, ‘’whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell.’’ (II Corinthians 12:2)

That experience, along with several others, had a profound and lasting effect on me. In contrast, I saw danger everywhere. Spiritual danger and physical danger. The music in most stores sounded so spiritually dangerous that my emotions could hardly cope with how carelessly passive people were about it and my own inability to communicate that danger to others. The music, the digital technology, the titles and content of best-selling world-loving books were a vexation to me whenever I encountered them.  

In the material world I was astonished at all the dangers people subjected their physical lives to. Because of my physical limitations, Sadie, who ‘stood’ by me, drove me to therapy sessions with our van those first few months. It took several trips before I was able to relax in the driver’s seat as we hurtled along on asphalt roads periodically missing another head-on collision by mere feet. At 60 miles per hour. I did the math. In a direct hit it would be like zooming along at 120 mph to a sudden stop. And sudden death. Yet people were risking their lives every day like this. Perhaps many were even unprepared to meet God? It was about to drive me crazy. So I committed it all to God.

Committing all to God reached an all new level for me when in a coma. I’m told when a person is dying that hearing is the last physical sensory perception to go. I’m also told that people can hear when in a coma. I can testify that not only can one hear but the hearing gets very keen and sharp when nothing else works. There also seems to be a going in and out of a deep sleep. After emerging from the aforementioned coma, I could tell Sadie of many friends and family that had been there to visit but some she told me about as I couldn’t recall them. The one among many that I did recall and the one that astonished her the most was when her brother Leroy (an old friend of mine) was discussing my condition with the bluntest of three neurologists on my case. ‘’Can you tell us what we can expect?” Leroy asked after some discussion. “I expect” the doctor gravely replied, “that he won’t survive this. And” he continued, “if he does, that he’ll be like a human vegetable.”

What astonished Sadie the most when I related the incident to her was that they, being aware that people can sometimes hear when in a coma, stepped out into the hall, not wanting me to hear. They did leave the door open, she said, “but we were standing behind the door to talk.”

‘’Well,”I said, “I guess when nothing else works, the ears get very sharp.” Sadie was very apologetic. ‘’No, no,” I responded, “it’s ok. I finally understood why I couldn’t move. I understood what was going on. I thought to myself; well, either way, the next thing I know I’ll be with the Lord. I knew I was thinking and human vegetables don’t, so whether I slipped into being one, or died, it would be all the same because my next conscious moment would be with the Lord. I committed it all to God.’’

Beginning with the eldest to our youngest I prayed for each one of our dear children, committing each one to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. I prayed for all of us as a family. I committed myself to God. I was ready to go…I expected to phase out of this life completely and go on to the next…

Life Matters!