{"id":106008,"date":"2024-06-30T17:35:47","date_gmt":"2024-06-30T23:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=106008"},"modified":"2024-06-30T17:35:47","modified_gmt":"2024-06-30T23:35:47","slug":"some-pleasant-reading-for-a-sabbath-evening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/06\/some-pleasant-reading-for-a-sabbath-evening.html","title":{"rendered":"Some pleasant reading for a Sabbath evening"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/a>
NASA public domain photograph<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
This is a great story: \u00a0\u201cBYU\u2019s James Corrigan earns miraculous bid to Paris Olympics with special steeplechase performance:\u00a0Corrigan achieved the unimaginable on a hot, humid night in Philadelphia\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n
I think, though, that knowing the background helps very much in appreciating it. \u00a0Here\u2019s an article that was published before Brother Corrigan\u2019s successful race: \u00a0\u201cInside the mad scramble to give a BYU runner the opportunity of a lifetime: After finishing third in the Olympic trials, steeplechaser James Corrigan has one last shot to make the U.S. team\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n
His coach, Ed Eyestone, and the others who stepped forward to help him and to make his success possible, deserve an enormous amount of credit and praise. \u00a0And, besides going to the summer Olympics in Paris, Brother Corrigan is getting married on Friday, 5 July. \u00a0This will be a memorable summer for him.<\/p>\n
<\/a>
A beautiful but not clearly relevant public domain photo from Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Some of you might find this item, from the Washington Post<\/em>, as interesting as I did \u2014 not, of course, that much of it was actually all that very surprising: \u00a0\u201cThe most religious, and religiously diverse, places in America: This week, we mine the U.S. Religious Census, a decennial count of America\u2019s faithful, for insights into the geography of religious devotion. We also compare people\u2019s claims on church attendance to their actual behavior.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/a>
Again, not strictly relevant but very beautiful: Dana Meadow, Yosemite, at sunrise \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
I\u2019ve shared a number of passages from \u00a0Mary Neal\u2019s book To Heaven and Back: A Doctor\u2019s Extraordinary Account of Her Death, Heaven, Angels, and Life Again <\/i>(Colorado Springs: Waterbrook Press, 2011), as well as from a sequel entitled \u00a07 Lessons from Heaven: How Dying Taught Me to Live a Joy-Filled Life.<\/em> \u00a0Here are a few more:<\/p>\n
\n "
A 2009 study conducted at the Pew Research Center demonstrated that more than 30 percent of Americans say that have \u201cfelt to be in touch with someone who has already died,\u201d and nearly half of all Americans claim to have had a religious or mystical experience (defined as \u201ca moment of sudden religious insight or awakening\u201d), including 18 percent of self-described atheists, agnostics, and the secularly unaffiliated.\u00a0 What\u2019s more, 13 percent claim to have seen or sensed the presence of an angel in the previous year, and at least 5 percent have had a near-death experience.\u00a0 (7 Lessons from Heaven<\/i>, 224)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Dr. Neal shares several stories other than her own.\u00a0 Here is one such account:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n "
Lynn died on an operating room table and had a near-death experience.\u00a0 She saw her sobbing parents in a nearby room, but once she realized they would be fine, as she tells it now, she entered a horizontal tunnel leading to a bright light from which emerged two of her previously deceased and beloved dogs.\u00a0 They were radiating brilliance from within, and she felt nothing but gratitude when they came running to her and joyfully smothered her with kisses.\u00a0 They accompanied her as she walked toward a light that she described as a warm, loving thing that contained all colors.\u00a0 She saw many people, including her grandparents and an uncle; everyone glowed with an inner light.\u00a0 Before returning to her physical body, she was able to ask Jesus whether it was true, as her elementary-school teacher had told her, that she had been given a lifelong heart condition so she would have a cross to carry like He had.\u00a0 She heard the voice of Christ vibrate through her as He said, \u201cNo, this heart condition is a challenge to help you grow and stay compassionate.\u201d\u00a0 (7 Lessons from Heaven<\/em>, 158)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\n
And here is a brief account from \u201cJustin,\u201d in Fort Worth, Texas:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n "
I worked for the phone company when I was a young man and got electrocuted one day when I was up on a telephone pole.\u00a0 The first thing I remember was looking down from somewhere in the sky and seeing one of my buddies doing CPR.\u00a0 I felt peaceful and surrounded by God\u2019s love.\u00a0 When I started moving down a bright path, I recognized my grandpa.\u00a0 He told me to \u201cgo back,\u201d and suddenly I was in the ambulance.\u00a0 I tried to tell my wife about this, but she told me that it was just because I hit my head.\u00a0 I never told anyone else until now, and that was thirty-two years ago.\u00a0 (7 Lessons from Heaven<\/em>, 224-225)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Another report comes from \u201cCindy,\u201d in Midland, Michigan:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n "
When I was three years old, I fell off a dock when no one was looking.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know how to swim and immediately sank to the bottom of the lake.\u00a0 I had the most loving encounter with Jesus.\u00a0 He held my hand while we talked but then told me I couldn\u2019t stay.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
"\n
\n
Suddenly, I popped to the surface right by the shore.\u00a0 My brother laughed and said I was lying when I told him I fell in and met Jesus.\u00a0 So I kept it to myself for many, many years.\u00a0 I remember this like it was yesterday and have never forgotten how much love I felt.\u00a0 (7 Lessons from Heaven<\/em>, 225)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n
Finally, I share a reflection from Dr. Neal that I found important:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n "
Your life and mine today can look radically different because of the reality of heaven.\u00a0 Or you can decide you\u2019re mildly intrigued by the stories . . . and walk away unchanged.\u00a0 If you walk, you would be deciding that every account, including mine, falls into the category of heartwarming stories \u2014 sweet, something you might even return to in the future, but not something that alters your thinking and remakes your heart and soul. . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
"\n
\n
I want to show you how your life can be different because of what you\u2019ve discovered.\u00a0 I want to rescue you from a sweet but ultimately unimportant story time for grown-ups.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Make no mistake, this is extremely serious business.\u00a0 Today, I know without a doubt that this world is separated by the thinnest of veils from the next, and that both worlds belong to God.\u00a0 I know now that you and I already live right next to, even inside of, eternity, and that one day, the veil between it and time \u2014 along with all its schedules, clocks, tragedies, and eons of history \u2014 will vanish.\u00a0 On that day, everything that happened in time will be made good, right, and beautiful by God himself.\u00a0 (7 Lessons from Heaven<\/em>, 191-192)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Have a wonderful Sabbath evening!<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 This is a great story: \u00a0\u201cBYU\u2019s James Corrigan earns miraculous bid to Paris Olympics with special steeplechase performance:\u00a0Corrigan achieved the unimaginable on a hot, humid night in Philadelphia\u201d I think, though, that knowing the background helps very much in appreciating it. \u00a0Here\u2019s an article that was published before Brother Corrigan\u2019s successful race: \u00a0\u201cInside the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":27072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[31567,1727,1011,31129,903,31561],"class_list":["post-106008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-7-lessons-from-heaven","tag-afterlife","tag-life-after-death","tag-mary-neal","tag-near-death-experience","tag-to-heaven-and-back"],"yoast_head":"\nSome pleasant reading for a Sabbath evening<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" This is a great story: \u00a0"BYU\u2019s James Corrigan earns miraculous bid to Paris Olympics with special steeplechase performance:\u00a0Corrigan achieved the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/06\/some-pleasant-reading-for-a-sabbath-evening.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Some pleasant reading for a Sabbath evening\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" This is a great story: \u00a0"BYU\u2019s James Corrigan earns miraculous bid to Paris Olympics with special steeplechase performance:\u00a0Corrigan achieved the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/06\/some-pleasant-reading-for-a-sabbath-evening.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-30T23:35:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/10\/476px-Dana_Meadow_Tarn_at_Sunrise.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"476\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/06\/some-pleasant-reading-for-a-sabbath-evening.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/06\/some-pleasant-reading-for-a-sabbath-evening.html\",\"name\":\"Some pleasant reading for a Sabbath evening\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-30T23:35:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-06-30T23:35:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\" This is a great story: \u00a0\\\"BYU\u2019s James Corrigan earns miraculous bid to Paris Olympics with special steeplechase performance:\u00a0Corrigan achieved the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/06\/some-pleasant-reading-for-a-sabbath-evening.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/06\/some-pleasant-reading-for-a-sabbath-evening.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/06\/some-pleasant-reading-for-a-sabbath-evening.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Some pleasant reading for a Sabbath evening\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Some pleasant reading for a Sabbath evening","description":" This is a great story: \u00a0\"BYU\u2019s James Corrigan earns miraculous bid to Paris Olympics with special steeplechase performance:\u00a0Corrigan achieved the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/06\/some-pleasant-reading-for-a-sabbath-evening.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Some pleasant reading for a Sabbath evening","og_description":" This is a great story: \u00a0\"BYU\u2019s James Corrigan earns miraculous bid to Paris Olympics with special steeplechase performance:\u00a0Corrigan achieved the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/06\/some-pleasant-reading-for-a-sabbath-evening.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2024-06-30T23:35:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":476,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/10\/476px-Dana_Meadow_Tarn_at_Sunrise.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/06\/some-pleasant-reading-for-a-sabbath-evening.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/06\/some-pleasant-reading-for-a-sabbath-evening.html","name":"Some pleasant reading for a Sabbath evening","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-06-30T23:35:47+00:00","dateModified":"2024-06-30T23:35:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":" This is a great story: \u00a0\"BYU\u2019s James Corrigan earns miraculous bid to Paris Olympics with special steeplechase performance:\u00a0Corrigan achieved the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/06\/some-pleasant-reading-for-a-sabbath-evening.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/06\/some-pleasant-reading-for-a-sabbath-evening.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/06\/some-pleasant-reading-for-a-sabbath-evening.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Some pleasant reading for a Sabbath evening"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
" "
" "
"
"
"