This is a great story: “BYU’s James Corrigan earns miraculous bid to Paris Olympics with special steeplechase performance: Corrigan achieved the unimaginable on a hot, humid night in Philadelphia”
I think, though, that knowing the background helps very much in appreciating it. Here’s an article that was published before Brother Corrigan’s successful race: “Inside the mad scramble to give a BYU runner the opportunity of a lifetime: After finishing third in the Olympic trials, steeplechaser James Corrigan has one last shot to make the U.S. team”
His coach, Ed Eyestone, and the others who stepped forward to help him and to make his success possible, deserve an enormous amount of credit and praise. And, besides going to the summer Olympics in Paris, Brother Corrigan is getting married on Friday, 5 July. This will be a memorable summer for him.
Some of you might find this item, from the Washington Post, as interesting as I did — not, of course, that much of it was actually all that very surprising: “The most religious, and religiously diverse, places in America: This week, we mine the U.S. Religious Census, a decennial count of America’s faithful, for insights into the geography of religious devotion. We also compare people’s claims on church attendance to their actual behavior.”
I’ve shared a number of passages from Mary Neal’s book To Heaven and Back: A Doctor’s Extraordinary Account of Her Death, Heaven, Angels, and Life Again (Colorado Springs: Waterbrook Press, 2011), as well as from a sequel entitled 7 Lessons from Heaven: How Dying Taught Me to Live a Joy-Filled Life. Here are a few more:
A 2009 study conducted at the Pew Research Center demonstrated that more than 30 percent of Americans say that have “felt to be in touch with someone who has already died,” and nearly half of all Americans claim to have had a religious or mystical experience (defined as “a moment of sudden religious insight or awakening”), including 18 percent of self-described atheists, agnostics, and the secularly unaffiliated. What’s more, 13 percent claim to have seen or sensed the presence of an angel in the previous year, and at least 5 percent have had a near-death experience. (7 Lessons from Heaven, 224)
Dr. Neal shares several stories other than her own. Here is one such account:
Lynn died on an operating room table and had a near-death experience. She saw her sobbing parents in a nearby room, but once she realized they would be fine, as she tells it now, she entered a horizontal tunnel leading to a bright light from which emerged two of her previously deceased and beloved dogs. They were radiating brilliance from within, and she felt nothing but gratitude when they came running to her and joyfully smothered her with kisses. They accompanied her as she walked toward a light that she described as a warm, loving thing that contained all colors. She saw many people, including her grandparents and an uncle; everyone glowed with an inner light. Before returning to her physical body, she was able to ask Jesus whether it was true, as her elementary-school teacher had told her, that she had been given a lifelong heart condition so she would have a cross to carry like He had. She heard the voice of Christ vibrate through her as He said, “No, this heart condition is a challenge to help you grow and stay compassionate.” (7 Lessons from Heaven, 158)
And here is a brief account from “Justin,” in Fort Worth, Texas:
I worked for the phone company when I was a young man and got electrocuted one day when I was up on a telephone pole. The first thing I remember was looking down from somewhere in the sky and seeing one of my buddies doing CPR. I felt peaceful and surrounded by God’s love. When I started moving down a bright path, I recognized my grandpa. He told me to “go back,” and suddenly I was in the ambulance. I tried to tell my wife about this, but she told me that it was just because I hit my head. I never told anyone else until now, and that was thirty-two years ago. (7 Lessons from Heaven, 224-225)
Another report comes from “Cindy,” in Midland, Michigan:
When I was three years old, I fell off a dock when no one was looking. I didn’t know how to swim and immediately sank to the bottom of the lake. I had the most loving encounter with Jesus. He held my hand while we talked but then told me I couldn’t stay.
Suddenly, I popped to the surface right by the shore. My brother laughed and said I was lying when I told him I fell in and met Jesus. So I kept it to myself for many, many years. I remember this like it was yesterday and have never forgotten how much love I felt. (7 Lessons from Heaven, 225)
Finally, I share a reflection from Dr. Neal that I found important:
Your life and mine today can look radically different because of the reality of heaven. Or you can decide you’re mildly intrigued by the stories . . . and walk away unchanged. If you walk, you would be deciding that every account, including mine, falls into the category of heartwarming stories — sweet, something you might even return to in the future, but not something that alters your thinking and remakes your heart and soul. . . .
I want to show you how your life can be different because of what you’ve discovered. I want to rescue you from a sweet but ultimately unimportant story time for grown-ups.
Make no mistake, this is extremely serious business. Today, I know without a doubt that this world is separated by the thinnest of veils from the next, and that both worlds belong to God. I know now that you and I already live right next to, even inside of, eternity, and that one day, the veil between it and time — along with all its schedules, clocks, tragedies, and eons of history — will vanish. On that day, everything that happened in time will be made good, right, and beautiful by God himself. (7 Lessons from Heaven, 191-192)
Have a wonderful Sabbath evening!
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