90 Minutes in Heaven (25 page)
Even though I don’t have full answers to many of my questions, I do have peace. I know I am where God wants me to be. I know I’m doing the work God has given me.
I find comfort in a story recorded in John’s Gospel. A man born blind meets Jesus and is healed. After that, he runs around praising God, but his healing is an embarrassment to the religious leaders who have been trying to turn the people against Jesus. They interrogate the formerly blind man, trying to force him to admit that Jesus is a sinner (that is, a fraud).
The man wisely says, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” (John 9:25 niv). In the same way, some may not believe my account; they may think it was some kind of wish fulfillment during a point of severe trauma. I don’t have to defend my experience.
I know what happened to me. For those of us whose faith is in the reality of heaven, no amount of evidence is necessary
. I know what I experienced.
I believe God gave me a hint of what eternity in heaven will be like.
I also believe that part of the reason I am still alive, as I’ve already pointed out, is that people prayed. Dick Onerecker prayed me back to life—to live without brain damage. David Gentiles and others prayed so that God wouldn’t take me back to heaven just yet.
I am here, I am alive, and it’s because God’s purposes have not yet been fulfilled in my life. When God is finished with me, I’ll return to the place I yearn to be. I have made my final reservations for heaven and I’m going back someday—permanently.
Prayerfully, I’ll see you there too.
Chapter 4
1
. Commonly called “Jaws of Life,” this is a brand of tools trademarked by the Hurst Jaws of Life Company. The term refers to several types of piston-rod hydraulic tools known as cutters, spreaders, and rams that are used to pry trapped victims from crashed vehicles.
2
. “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” words by Joseph Scriven, 1855.
Chapter 18
1
. Pim van Lommel, Ruud van Wees, Vincent Meyers, Ingrid Elffench, “Near-death Experience in Survivors of Cardiac Arrest: A Prospective Study in the Netherlands,”
Lancet
358, no. 9298 (December 15, 2001): 2039–45.
Don Piper
has been an ordained minister since 1985 and has served in several capacities on church staffs, including six years as a senior pastor. He and his wife, Eva, are residents of Pasadena, Texas, and are the parents of three grown children. Don has appeared on numerous Christian and secular television and radio programs and has been the subject of countless newspaper and magazine features. He writes a weekly newspaper column, and every week you will find him preaching and leading conferences and retreats all over the United States and abroad. Don can be contacted at [email protected].
