I certainly hope that no one goes moping around all the time thinking about dying! To that, most would exclaim, “how absolutely morbid!” Me to! But is the thought (and inevitability) of our physical death really to be feared and reviled?

Have y’all read the book “90 Minutes in Heaven”? Or perhaps you have heard Don Piper, the author of that book, speak at your church or elsewhere.

Like many folks, I have an acute interest in the subject of life after (this) life. Here’s a brief synopsis of Piper’s book: As he is driving, Baptist minister Don Piper collides with a semi-truck that crosses into his lane. He is pronounced dead at the scene. For the next 90 minutes, Piper experiences heaven where he is greeted by those who had influenced him spiritually. He hears beautiful music and feels a blissful and absolute peace.

Back on Earth, a passing minister feels that he should pray for Don even though he knows the man is dead. Piper miraculously comes back to life, and the bliss of heaven is replaced by a long and painful recovery. For years, Piper kept his heavenly experience to himself. Finally, however, friends and family convinced him to share his remarkable story.

About 17 years ago, I had a near-death experience. No, not the kind where someone has a heart attack or an accident, their heart actually stops beating for a time and they are “clinically” dead. I had been diagnosed with a very dangerous kind of cancer that claims many lives each year, and so felt that my imminent demise was, perhaps, at hand and that I was getting “near death.”

As it turned out, my loving family and friends began flooding the heavenly kingdom with prayer and also encouraged a large portion of the Christian world to intercede for me and lift their prayers on my behalf. My sister, who was touring Europe at that time, kept calling to tell me she was praying for my healing in every grand, majestic cathedral she visited throughout that country!

Well, I’m not sure that the size of the church or the amount of those praying makes any difference as to whether or not prayers are heard and our requests are granted but, though I had to endure some miserable times of chemotherapy, I was healed — and quite quickly! My doctor was tickled and very pleased … but not as ecstatic as I was! After much clinical study, many doctors and scientists are now proclaiming just what Christ said ... prayer works!

Though I had been a Christian believer for some years, I’d be lying if I said that, faced with the reality of physical death, I had no anxiety about “the great beyond” — no fear of dying. In addition to fervently reading and re-reading a lot of scripture, I read the book, “Life After Life,” by Dr. Raymond Moody.

In “Life After Life” Dr. Moody investigated more than one hundred case studies of people who experienced “clinical death” and were subsequently revived.

The extraordinary, true stories presented provide evidence that there is life after physical death. The testimonies of those who have been to the “other side” all bear such striking similarities that the evidence is positively overwhelming! That book and, of course, the Bible, helped allay my fears and bolster my faith.

In his last few years on Earth, my dad had a debilitating condition that could have caused his death at any time and eventually did. But dad had no doubt that the unseen realm to which he was going was real and wonderful. If he had any fear of death, he certainly never showed it in any way! Dad was a man of great faith in God, and would often say with a peaceful smile: “Death is life’s greatest adventure.”

T&D Columnist Rush Button can be reached by e-mail at buttonrl@aol.com or by phone at 803-534-3724. His column appears every Tuesday.

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