God Is Not 3 Guys

Barbara Bradley Hagerty, NPR’s religion correspondent, wanted to know whether science can present evidence for a spiritual dimension. As she was researching the question, she was a little embarrassed, “spooked” to find herself experiencing transcendence. I count myself among those who believe that spiritual entities touch us at times, that the inner realm breaks into our outer lives with messages. What spooked Hagerty consoles me, and I like to collect stories of this phenomenon. Annelee Woodstrom was raised in Hitler’s Germany and after World War II came to Minnesota as the bride of an American soldier. She tells this story in her second book, Empty Chairs . Her daughter Sandy was looking forward to a promotion in May. With the raise in pay she planned to buy her parents a new car and they couldn’t talk her out of it. Annelee wrote, I was happy for Sandy but I was troubled. . . . Without reason, the death skeleton that depicted the Totentanz (Death Dance) in the cemetery chapel in my...

It’s been a while since I posted any paranormal stories, the real-life experiences ordinary people have with the Other Side. To me they demonstrate the existence of spiritual reality—what we call “God”—and they demonstrate its independence from religions. So, more stories: Mary and her sister took turns staying with her mother during the last weeks of her life. After she died, Mary woke up to her mom’s voice saying, “Mary” just like she always did when she needed me for something.” Mindy, whose dad passed over years ago: Just recently I was in a terrible dream in which I was in a woods, lost and hungry. I was crying. Suddenly, quite serenely, my dad walked out of the woods, wearing the khaki pants and flannel shirt I remember him wearing. He held out his arms and hugged me. Then we walked into an adjacent room and we danced. It happened to be Father's Day eve! I woke up happy and nothing that day could have changed my happy, calm, peaceful mood, even though the weather was drea...

I wrote a while ago that some of my own encounters with the other side are too personal to share, and that’s what I find to be true for others. Not surprising. I don’t think it’s only wariness of skeptics; it’s the sacredness of the incidents. When the holy mystery touches us, we must not sully this precious encounter by splatting it to the world. On the other hand, visiting about it with someone who doesn’t scoff brings satisfaction and deeper appreciation of the holy touch. Recently I got a story so startling that I’d love to tell the whole story for the sake of the skeptics. But I don’t have permission. I can only mention an unusual swooping and gliding dance of pelicans flying in bands of three and four. These numbers accurately represent a certain group of deceased persons. Remarkable. As usual when these things happen, the witnesses to this phenomenon arrived at its significance with some hesitation and then a sense of wonder. The word “paranormal” means beyond the range of norm...

Here is another story about the other side, this one told by Cindy. As Mom was dying of breast cancer I was fortunate to spend the final 10 days at her side. At one point we spoke about a story I’d heard of a young woman who had lost her father to cancer. He told her that after he passed he would somehow let her know he was fine. After the funeral she went back to her home, a very old house she was renovating. A light suddenly came on for a few minutes in her hallway. She was amazed because this light had never worked before. A few days later she had an electrician come in to check it out. There were no wires connecting the light and the electrician said it could not possibly have turned on. She then realized it must have been her father letting her know all is well. I told Mom that story and asked her to somehow let me know she was OK after she passed. She said she would. A few days later Mom died. I was sitting at her computer in the laundry room when the Cremation Society wheele...

Carol and her father had always been close, sharing with each other thoughts not revealed to others. While she was visiting him as he lay dying in the nursing home, he pointed to things he saw floating around the room and asked, “Do you see those?” She didn’t see anything. It saddened him that she could not see what he was seeing, and this went on for a good ten minutes. Finally he had one on his knee. “It’s right here,” he said, and gently placed her hand on it. She felt only him but now it came to her. In a voice filled with wonder, she said, “Papa, I think those are the angels coming to escort you to where you need to be.” Without another word, he dropped into a deep, peaceful sleep. It was not yet the end, but a harbinger of the end. They both loved Christmas, loved it. The December after he died, she was happily hanging Christmas decorations in her living room, two of them large jingle bells. As had happened before, she felt her father's presence. He had been with her o...

“Oh, this is what that meant!” said Sabrina at the wake. She was being mysterious again. A few months before that, she had started reading about death and told her mother, Beata, who thought it was strange but forgot about it. After that, Sabrina mysteriously called one day and asked, “Is anyone sick?” “No. Bill and Larry have health problems, but that’s all.” “I have weird dreams about the family.” “What do you mean? Tell me what you mean.” As Beata asked for more information, Sabrina grew angry and obnoxious—not like her at all. “Just tell me what you’re talking about,” pressed Beata, irritating Sabrina further. “You don’t tell me when I’m going to tell you. I will tell you when I will tell you.” Rudely. It was like something made her not tell. “What do you mean?” “Do you hear me? I’m not going to tell you. Do you understand? We’re lucky that nobody’s sick and nobody’s died.” “Well no, nobody’s died.” “A lot of families have those things.” “Oh, I know that.” Beata felt s...