Key Bible Verse: "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that … I will see him with my own eyes" (Job 19:25, 27). Bonus Reading: Acts 7:54-60

Willie began improving before he left the operating room. In a few weeks, he was back home. Recovery was slow, and the sermons short.

But something happened in Willie's church. The Spirit of God poured out on Willie's people. They came, they sang, they celebrated, and they listened to their pastor tell of his experience. While in a coma, Willie says, he saw heaven. He walked streets of gold and took in the sights of eternity. When he tells the story, he's short on details and long on body language. He preaches like a man who's seen heaven, and thousands hear him present Jesus each month. The power of God is evident in the changed lives all over the pastor's church.

Willie now has no regrets about his suffering. Like Stephen, he's seen something that makes living here feel like second-class. No, the only regret Willie has today is that his visit was so short-lived.

"I woke up and saw a nurse standing there," he told me, "and I've never been so disappointed in my life! One day I'm going back, but in the meantime, I'm just preaching Jesus."

—Andy Cook in A Power Beyond Belief

My Response: I'll ask God to make my assurance of eternal life free me from panic, to live the rest of my time on earth abundantly.

Thought to Apply: Death is the veil which those who live call life: They sleep, and it is lifted.—PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY (English poet)

Adapted from A Power Beyond Belief (Kregel, 2003) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Lord, help me match my stance toward physical death with my confidence in the eternal life You gave me.

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