Abby, Alex and I went to hear Ian McCormack tell his story last night, at a bar in Gloucester. It is not the kind of story you hear every day, so I thought I would give a quick telling of it here, and if you want to read it in more detail, there is a website:http://www.aglimpseofeternity.org/
When Ian was 26, he was scuba diving in Mauritius, and was stung by five box jelly fish. One of the local boys he was with brought him to the beach in a dingy but left him there and went to get others out of the water. He felt the poison seeping through him, but managed to stand up and approach some local taxi drivers to ask for a lift to hospital. When they heard he didn't have any money on him, they all left him. But as he begged for help, one of them gave him a ride, but only as far as his hotel where he dumped him out, literally lifting his now paralysed feet out of the taxi. The Chinese owners of the hotel refused to take him in their own car to the hospital as they could see he was dying, and it would bring bad luck on them if he died in their car. One of the employees phoned for an ambulance though.Eventually the ambulance came, and as Ian was on the way to the hospital, he saw his life being kind of projected on the inside of the taxi, and then as he knew he was about to die, he remembered his Christian mother's words to him years ago, when he told her he had rejected her faith. She had said, "Wherever you are, however far away you go, if you call out to God from your heart, he will hear you." So Ian tried saying the only prayer he knew, the Lord's prayer - and he heard what he took to be God's voice, saying, but do you want to be forgiven, and then, do you forgive the people who have hurt you? Ian thought about all the people who had left him to die in the course of the previous hours, and struggled, but, he did ask God for forgiveness and to save him.
Later, in the hospital, he finally gave up the struggle to stay awake, and as he closed his eyes, he immediately found himself standing in pitch darkness. He heard angry voices telling him he was in hell and deserved to be there - but then he saw a ray of light which kind of beamed him up, through a tunnel, into a place of bright light. The light was emanating from a figure, who Ian realised was Jesus. When he was describing this part, he was quite overwhelmed still, even though it happened about thirty years ago. He described how waves of peace, comfort, and acceptance came from the figure. Some words were exchanged and finally he asked Ian if he wanted to stay, or go back. Ian said he wanted to stay, but, he then he thought of his mother, and so wanted to let her know that he had met Jesus and found faith, that he decided instead he would say "Go back." Jesus told him to tilt his head and he would be back in his body.
Ian said that he came to and found himself lying on the slab in the morgue, with a doctor pricking his toe with a needle! When his eyes opened, the doctor jumped a mile, and the nurses who were by the door ran away up the corridor!
Well, that is his story. I think near death experiences are fascinating. I know they are controversial. But they always seem to have some features in common, and, they always seem to result in faith and comfort for the receiver of the experience. Ian said he has absolutely no fear of dying now, and, as I think about it, I think it gives me more courage as well about death. He said that heaven looked just like a beautiful version of earth, with fields and trees and a clear flowing river.
Certainly something to think about...
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