My father passed away from cancer on April 20, 2005. My story isn't about him, but about a story that he once told me. He was a cardiologist. He told me this story on the night after he revived a woman from a heart attack.

The woman, after recovering quickly, began telling my father about her near-death experience. She felt herself float up towards the ceiling, and then she could see her physical body and all the doctors and nurses around her trying to revive her. After she was revived, she told my father everything he and the nurses had done, even though she was clearly not conscious during this time.

Then she saw a bright light at the end of a tunnel. She went towards it and saw a bridge. At the end of the bridge, the most handsome man she had ever seen was bathing in a lake. He told her to come back home into his arms. She didn't have even a doubt in her mind that she wanted to be home. She felt an overwhelming sense of peace and happiness that could never be described with words.

As she was walking towards the bridge, to go into the lake, she heard her little kids' voices crying, begging for her to come back, because they wouldn't be able to survive without her. It took every single ounce of will power she had to back away from the lake where she longed to be, but she couldn't leave her children. As she backed away from the bridge, back into the tunnel...she was revived.

I wrote this in memory of my father. I know he's in that lake, happy, well, and peaceful. It's comforting to know that there is life after death. RIP Daddy.

Please respond to john@beyondreligion.com

Posted 12-03-08