To Heaven And Back - A Near-Death Experience

 I died in the early morning hours of March 14, 2021, went to Heaven, and came back.

I think I came back...or was sent back...to tell you a bit about it.

As background, I have a serious problem breathing now. Any exertion, I run out of air and sometimes can't draw breath for a bit. Scary, yeah?

So I guess that's what happened. Breath stopped, and I left.

This was not an hallucination brought on by oxygen starvation; I've run out of oxygen underneath a seaweed bed while diving. It wasn't like that at all.

Run out of oxy, everything gets kind of grey and vague and you see weird stuff (like talking sharks). What was salient about this experience was its clarity, and specificity.

It wasn't a dream, either. My dreams are never internally consistent; there are always jarring notes. Not so, in this care. Everything fit together seamlessly.

I did write a narrative (which is consistent with how I described the experience to Barb immediately afterwards; she read it and verified this), but it's too long to post here. I'll give you the highlights.

But first, this is what Barb said...

I, Barb, as an eye-witness to the first telling of the vision saw in Andrew a joy in his eyes that I have never encountered with him through our 20 years. His eyes and countenance glowed , there was a feeling of enlightenment, safety, and calm amid his elated telling and painting of the scene.

The biggest highlight is that it's the culmination of everything you've hoped for, everything you imagined it could be...and far, far better than that.

It is a place of such vivid colours, such green grass, a sky of purest blue and red-gold sunsets, storm-clouds and thunderheads.

It is a place of people, people you knew and perhaps were meant to know, all arriving at the same time and taking with them the best of their souls. There is no room for anger or pettiness or sorrow. Simply no room at all.

No room for feeling triumphant over the devil either; he lost, and that's simply all there is.

It is a place where you might not be recognized at first, because you are seen as you truly are. For me, that was an improvement.

It is a place where we are ageless...where we just are.

It is a place of animals, barking running dogs, and scurrying mice (yes, mice). 

It is a place of activity, laughter, music...of things done for their own sake and for no other reason.

It is a place of perfection, of the softest grass you could imagine that you wouldn't hesitate to walk through barefoot...like the best carpet, but alive and growing.

And there are weeds, but they are perfect weeds.

It is a place where you meet the unexpected and immediately say, "Of course...how could it have been otherwise?"

It is a place without limits, where you know that each day will be better than the one before, higher, brighter, wider, deeper...and that is only a foretaste.

Heaven is that place for which we are made, and which has been made for us.

It is not a place where God lives.

Heaven is God.

And coming back, was that soul-shattering? Did I weep for what I'd experienced and for which I now have to wait?

Not at all, because there's still so much to do here...like pass on this message...

What had been hope is now certainty.

What was hope is certainty,

what was hazed, now clear,

and I know there's victory

beyond what I have here.

I have seen the bright green fields,

have heard the joyous song,

but nonetheless, I will not yield,

for it would be wrong

to pack it in a bit too soon;

there is still work to do

beneath harsh sun and cool white moon,

and I must see it through

'till I'm full-poured as His libation,

and Heav'n becomes my duty station.

It's said that no music can equal that of Heaven, but I beg to disagree...John Williams' theme from Jurassic Park does the job quite nicely. (Please click here if your device doesn't load it.)

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.