When the Lights Go Out
Will you be ready?
By Eric Dunbar
There is one subject that people tend to avoid—death. At the same time, people are curious about the subject and want to know if there is life after death. I know that many of you are skeptics and no words will ever make you believe the life changing experience that I had on Tuesday, June 17, 2008. There is one very important question that I would like to ask you; but first I want you to think about people around you—those people who you love very much.
On that day I awakened with the thought of going to work. My custom is to work on the Internet writing articles at least one hour before I go to work; but after about 20 minutes of sitting at my computer I began to feel bad. I told my wife that I would not be going to work because I felt bad. So I sent an e-mail to my supervisor saying that I would not be coming in to work on that day. I went back to bed hoping the extra rest would make me feel better.
By 10:30 that morning I began to feel better so I sat down at my computer to write an article for my upcoming VinePublication.com Newsletter. At about 11:30 a.m., I got hungry, so I went downstairs to the refrigerator to get the sandwich that my wife had prepared for my lunch had I gone to work. No sooner than I had finished the sandwich, my chest began to ache. 11 months prior I had a serious heart attack, and I have had several smaller ones since, so immediately I recognized the pain and I knew I was having another serious heart attack.
I called downstairs for my wife, Dorth, to help me, but she did not answer. Then I remembered that she yelled upstairs to me saying that she was going outside to put the garbage out. I looked for my nitroglycerin which I usually hang on the door knob of my bedroom door but it was not there. The pain was getting more intense as I continued to look for my nitro. I eventually found it on my desk where I had been working. I knew I had only minutes to get the little life saving pill under my tongue, so I hastily opened the little metal container that I usually kept around my neck to get at the miracle pill that I thought would save my life.
Normally it would take 15 to 30 seconds for the pain to subside after placing the nitro under my tongue but this time it was not working. The pain grew in intensity and my vision began to fade. Again I called out to my wife for help. Normally it would take 15 to 30 seconds for the pain to subside after placing the nitro under my tongue but this time it was not working. The pain grew in intensity and my vision began to fade. Again I called out to my wife for help.
“Hey,” I yelled, “I’m in trouble!”
She knew from the sound of my voice that the thing she feared even more than I did was happening at this very moment—I was having another heart attack. I could hear her running up the stairs, but I proceeded to make my way to my bed. As soon as I got in the bed I got dizzy and light headed. Dorth was now standing directly over me.
“Do you want to go to the hospital?” she asked. But before I could answer her, the scenery changed. I was no longer looking at my wife but I was looking at my son, Jamil. How can this be? I wondered. This is impossible, I thought.
My son was murdered in May of 2004; I had not seen him in a little over 4 years, but yet he was standing about 20 feet in front of me with that big smile that he was known for, with his arms outstretched.
“Come on daddy, I’ve been waiting for you,” he said.
He was so real, and I was so peaceful and I did not feel any pain; instead I felt an overwhelming sense of love and peace like I had never felt before.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Right over there,” he answered.
I just stood there in amazement. I looked around to see where I was, but I could not see anything through the bright light that shone all around me. Before I could answer him or step toward him, I heard a voice speak to me from out of the light. It seemed as though the voice came from every direction. I looked around me but I couldn’t see anyone; all I could see was light.
“Are you ready?” said the voice. The sound of the voice that I heard was soothing and not only could I hear it, I could feel it too. It felt as though the sound passed right through me. Again I looked toward Jamil.
“Come on it’s just right over there,” he said as he pointed into the light.
I took one step in his direction and again the voice that I had just heard said,
“Are you ready?”
As I gazed into the light I felt young again, and I heard my mother say, always be polite when someone is trying to help you. Then I remembered my wife. I thought, what is going to happen to her? That is when I answered the voice,
“No! I’m not ready.”
“Then you must go back,” said the voice from inside the light.
I looked at Jamil; he was still standing there in front of me smiling. I said to him,
“I have to go back now.”
“Okay,” he calmly said. “I’ll see you after while.”
I turned away from him and took one step in the opposite direction and when I did I was suddenly back in my bed. The first thing I saw was an oxygen mask going over my face. When I looked around the room I saw lots of people but I did not see Dorth. It took me a moment to gather my thoughts. Then I remembered that I had suffered a heart attack.
I did not tell my wife about the incident that I had experienced until the following day. To my surprise she also had a secret that she had not shared with me.
“You died,” she said. “You really left me. You had this glassy look in your eyes; they were motionless and I never saw them blink. I put my hand on your neck and there was no pulse. I felt your wrist and there was no pulse. I put my hand in front of your nose and mouth and you were not breathing. That is when I called 911.”
I do not remember seeing my wife on the phone but I will never forget the experience. I am not absolutely certain what happened to me, but the experience was not a dream; it was real. It has forever changed my view of life. Life is too short and too precious to waste on vanity.
About the question that I said I would ask you. It is probably the most important question of your lifetime: “When the lights go out, are you ready?”
