Connected

Chapter 10 Excerpt: "I was back on the farm. The mood was somber. There was a car parked at the top of the hill a few feet from the garage. I was standing by it. My brother, Ernie, was sitting inside. (He had died unexpectedly in 2002 at the age of 43.) He had on his typical baseball cap. The window of the car was cracked. In the seat beside him sat someone very little or an angel/spirit...I couldn't really see. Ernie looked sternly at me and said, "They are coming to get Dad." I glanced down towards the house and watched Dad taking out the garbage in the dark. The porch light was on. I asked Ernie, "When? How soon?" He mentioned something about January, but it wasn't clear. My mind rationalized that Ernie wasn't dealing in OUR time. His time was eternity." Chapter 6 Excerpt: "The pure of heart, the innocent and the children (like Kim) are more open to encounters than many adults, especially those who believe that death is the end. Instead Jesus, angels and our departed loved ones who appear to us in times of grave illness show us that there is a full life afterwards...different than the way it is on earth, but nonetheless very beautiful and desirable." Chapter 9 Excerpt: "Finally (as though he had been thinking about what he was going to say), he rolled down the passenger-side window. Jerry turned and asked him, "Can I help you?" With the window open, we could see that the man was dressed in navy striped, bib overalls with a short-sleeved white t-shirt underneath. I noticed he was an older, heavier-set man with white hair and glasses...possibly in his late 70's or 80's. Jerry remembered a cap on his head. I didn't. Because his head was tilted at an angle, neither of us saw his face clearly. He told us in a deep, robust voice, "Well...glad to see you finally made it! Now, I don't have to worry about..." and he shut the window and slowly pulled off without finishing the sentence. We watched as he inched his way around the circle drive, and began the descent down the winding tree-lined road out to the highway. It was like everything was in slow-motion...as though he didn't want to leave. I turned to Jerry, still not grasping what had happened and asked, "Who was that?" He replied shaking his head, "I don't know. I thought you knew him." Instantaneously, we both glanced to see if the car had made it to the highway. Only a few seconds had passed, but there was no car in sight. We didn't know if he'd actually left the property. Surveying the lot, we saw no gold Oldsmobile. It was then, we realized that maybe this wasn't exactly what it seemed. Who was this man greeting us? He knew us; we didn't know him." Chapter 5 Excerpt: "The power of divine order is in action and it happens every day. God's law of order rules the universe. And as we work with God, we find our lives unfold in harmonious, orderly ways. When we tap into the love for which God made us, things happen...sometimes unexplainable. Maybe what we think is a coincidence truly isn't at all!"