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Near Death Experience

In the summer of 72 I set out on my Honda Humpback 450, that I had brought back from the war, on a 360 mile trip to From Tampa Bay to St Andrews Bay. At Cross City an oncoming fellow with a load of whiskey in him turned left immediately in front of me. I have no recollection of the meeting but the fellow who saw it said I went straight up in the air and came down (helmeted) head first on the pavement. He said I was going pretty fast and the fellow in the car didn’t seem to slow down much when he turned. The EMT fellows (did they
have EMTs then?) carried me to Shands in Gainesville, a university connected teaching hospital.

Well, Shands had just received multiple severe injuries from a couple of auto wrecks and whoever was on duty judged that I was Dead-On-Arrival and a colored card attesting to that judgment was placed on my chest. Others who could be saved needed the scarce resources so the gurney on which I was a passenger was pushed over against the wall in the hall and lifesaving attentions were focused on the other broken bodies that had a
chance to live.

A couple of Medical students were walking in the hallway and saw the stiff unattended. One of them said, “Let’s practice some lifesaving techniques.” They did that and in the process the body commenced to breathe, so I wound up in the emergency room, anyway.

My first memory is of being flat on my back and unable to move anything and there was a doctor in a chair far away across the room who was talking somberly to my wife. There were two med students standing near. The doctor was saying something about my jaw. Presently all three med types approached me and the doctor grasped my upper front teeth and pulled. My maxilla (I learned that word right then) came forward a full 2 inches. I felt nothing and was too groggy to render an opinion on the procedure right at that moment. The doc was demonstrating to the students that my upper jaw was in pieces and not well connected. Then I got my voice back and said, “HEYwhatthef**kleemealone!!!!” The doc said “well he seems conscious,” and a med student reached out his hand and repeated the trick with the maxilla. I yelled weakly, “Dammitol! Can’t you take his word for it?” The other med student did it all over again and
I said, “What is with you guys? He wasn’t lying! can’t you believe him!?”

My wife said, “I think he’s going to be okay.”

This is likely not the sort of near death experience one expects to hear about but I was near dead and it was quite an experience. I was not then a Christian but, in retrospect, I think I was protected. I thank the Lord now for medical students.

Today, even the newer sciences agree there is a soul - but they won't come right out and say it.
According to the modern brainiacts, "reality" is the dream, and the world of spirit is real. Those who delve deep into the world of cyberspace claim the physical world is an illusion. Even Einstien said if science closes it's eyes to the spiritual then science is dead. Theoretical physicists believe consciences, using the mind without it's body, has control over the physical. Because of modern medicine, more and more people are witnessing the other side and are living to tell about it.

On the other side, of course, there are the "deniers." These are the people who, instead of advancing and questioning everything, are Hell bent (literally) on proving man is God, and that's the end of the story. They claim they have a "consensus" on the "facts" that say if you can't see it or measure it, it does not exist.

Pre-operation MRI scan, 9/18/2010:

After insertion of anesthesia lines, no memory during the meningiotomy; six hours or so and bloody, I'm told. Afterward, my memory is just me and the Lord, and peace, and light, and no time. But finally it happened that my eyes opened and I saw the clock at the foot of my bed, then closed them and rested it seemed for several hours. Then opened my eyes again, saw the clock, but only about two minutes of real time had passed. This went on for a long, long time in my inner senses, and my soul was at peace as I went on rehearsing the verses I had been memorizing before the operation:

"Be not overmuch righteous, neither make thyself overwise:
why shouldest thou destroy thyself?
Be not overmuch wicked, neither be thou foolish:
why shouldest thou die before thy time?
It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this;
yea, from this withdraw not thine hand:
he that feareth God shall come forth of them all."

This was from Ecclesiastes 7:16-18, and I had taken it as a direct message from God to continue to keep my ways straight before Him.

I still remember that suspended-time experience, though it tends to fade when the illusory rush of life and its craziness wants to keep taking over. But His admonition is, "Don't let it."

Blessed be The Father, and the Son of His Love, risen to resume His Glory! I praise Him for sending His Comforter, His Spirit, to be with me at all times, especially through my operation.

Near death? I believe so. How gracious He is to give me a preview and not be afraid of departing this sphere. I believe His angelic beings have been protecting me all my life, even when I was so evil-minded.

Being with the Lord alone is too wondersome to articulate.