A deadly medical mistake sent a navy sailor to the presence of Jesus in heaven. He returned from his near-death experience with new eyes to see the kingdom of heaven in this life. Now he wants to help you experience heaven on earth today.
For years Steve Musick kept his amazing story to himself, afraid no one would believe or understand it. A major allergic reaction had stopped his heart, hurling him into a five-week coma and powerful experience of heaven. After returning to life, he couldn't forget the memory of that vibrant place--and, most of all, the loving words and touch of Jesus.
But that was only the beginning. An amazing series of miracles, dreams, and other supernatural events had been set in motion, showing Steve that heaven was close, even in this life. God was calling him to discover echoes of heaven in the here and now--echoes that can happen at any moment, to anyone--that bring overwhelming joy.
MY THOUGHTS:
I was drawn to this title when my dear Dad passed away earlier this year, and I couldn't help pondering a lot about what awaits our departed souls directly on the other side. I know there have been many books with theories written already, but some of them are just surmises like ours would be. That's most likely why books by people who claim to have had NDE's (near death experiences) intrigue us. I've seen them jokingly referred to as 'heavenly tourism' but for readers with open minds who are seeking the common threads, these books can offer a lot of hope and comfort.
Stephen Musick describes the sort of experience we all long to be true, in which he has a long, loving conversation with Jesus in an environment which would be enough to blow our physical senses, were we still in them. But this only takes up one chapter of the book. For the rest of it, he talks about the ripple effect this experience had on the rest of his life, and his day to day attitude.
He focuses on a simple, fragile phenomenon he calls 'bubbles of heaven.' It's when other-worldly or supernatural moments break briefly in to ours. For Musick, they're fleeting reminders of what his moment in heaven had been like, and his stated goal is to instruct readers so we can learn to recognise them in our lives too.
I really appreciate his emphasis on the simple nature of these, making them easy to dismiss as coincidence, good fortune, or whatever else our reason brushes them off with. We've been conditioned by our culture to believe that things worth our attention will probably be loud, obvious and hard to miss. To the contrary, they are often gentle enough to slip past us if we aren't aware. So the bulk of this book is probably about training our hearts to be aware.
All in all, it's a spirit lifting and encouraging read which came along at a time I appreciated it.
Thanks to Water Brook Press and Blogging for Books for giving me a copy through Net Galley.
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