In closing out this week I would like to recommend some resources dealing with the topic of death.

The first one is a book called Heaven Is For Real. It is an amazing TRUE story about a 3 year old boy on his death bed that had a heavenly encounter. He actually went to heaven for 3 minutes and had a full books worth of information to tell about it. I know it sounds hokey, but you’d have to read it for yourself to know that it is the real deal. The family has gotten national recognition included appearances on the Today show, Fox news, and many others. Check out the link to hear his story, and more importantly check out the book! On a side note my mom got to meet the author and the boy that went to heaven and the rest of the family when she checked them in at the airport.
Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven, but Nobody Wants Die is another book on the same heavy topic, but more of a lighthearted approach than some. Christian artist “David Crowder explores the complex relationship between life, death, grief, and community.” I haven’t read the book personally, but I know some who have and they recommend. Another little fun fact, my sister in law has an autographed copy that she got from Crowder himself when my brother was on tour with the band. Talk about six degrees of separation, I guess it should be my turn to meet an author.
I also wanted to post a few blog links because I have some friends who have written about their personally experiences recently and each one shows how you unique the experience of loss is for every individual and yet we can still all relate to that same core feeling of sorrow.
First Amy who kind of inspired me to write about my brother to begin with. When she wrote about the sudden death of one her best friends in High School and how it was the 20th anniversary of this small town tragedy is when I realized that it has been 20 years that my brother has been gone.
Another one of my friends recently went through the 1 year anniversary of loosing her mom to cancer. This story has touched my life personally, since I know her whole family. Her life blog is just something she writes for friends and family, but for anyone that has lost a parent or someone to cancer you may be able to relate to her feelings.
Lastly, the same time I was writing about Zeb my friend Katy was documenting her feelings about growing up without her dad who passed away when she was almost five. I’ve known Katy for a long time and we knew each other’s stories already, but not to the degree that we had written about on our blogs.
I am glad to see that people are talking and being real about their emotions. I have seen the harm that can come from denial or trying to bottle things. I know this little series has been helpful to me and I can only hope that maybe it will encourage others.