Tag Archives: NDE

My Mind is Set On…

March 6, 2023 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

Then [the angel] continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.“
Daniel 10:12 (NIV)

Along my life journey, I have encountered a diverse number of individuals who have “set their minds” to various things in life. As I sat in the quiet this morning and let my mind wander down memory lane, a number of people popped into my mind.

The dude whose mind was always set on rock n’ roll, the music, the bands, the history, and the classics. From what I see on social media, that has never changed in 40 years.

The dude whose mind has always been set on being a success in business. He dresses for success, he networks for success, and he closely manages his conversations and relationships so as to leverage them for personal gain.

The girl who set her mind on creating the picture-perfect life. From breast augmentation to glamour shots, from the trophy husband to the perfectly gorgeous and well-dressed children, every post and story is managed and leveraged to impress.

I could continue. From what I’ve observed, people set their minds on everything, including setting their minds on nothing at all.

I found it interesting that the angels visiting Daniel in today’s chapter know him. They know who he is. They know his story. They know that at some point Daniel “set his mind” to live humbly before God and set his mind on the things of God.

In his book Imagine Heaven, John Burke tells of his thirty-five-year study of over 1,000 near-death experiences (NDEs). One of the recurring testimonies of those who have clinically died and experienced heaven is that a complete, written record and transcript exist of our entire earthly life. Jesus said, “But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.” According to the NDEs that Burke heard and studied, Jesus was not kidding. We will review the entire record of our lives. As one NDE’er expressed:

[The man] stood beside me and directed me to look to my life, where I was replaying my life’s less complimentary moments; I relived those moments and felt not only what I had done but also the hurt I had caused. Some of the things I would have never imagined could have caused pain. I was surprised that some things I may have worried about, like shoplifting a chocolate as a child, were not there whilst casual remarks which caused hurt unknown to me at the time were counted.

It is an introspective time in the quiet this morning as I prepare to launch into a new work week. What have I set my mind upon? What do others see and consider to be the core motives of my life based on my words, my actions, my relationships, my tweets, my posts, and my stories? More importantly, what does heaven see that I have set my mind upon?

As I meditated on these questions, an old liturgical statement welled up from my long-term memory: May the words of my lips and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, my God.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Life’s Slideshow

January 4, 2023 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

There was never anyone like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel his wife.
1 Kings 21:25 (NIV)

Wendy and I purchased a digital photo frame for my mother as a Christmas gift. It allows my dad, my siblings, and our children the ability to upload photos right to the frame from anywhere. My mother, who is now entering the more advanced stages of Alzheimer’s, moved into Memory Care just before Thanksgiving.

So, I and my loved ones have been sending photos to mom’s frame. When my folks moved into a retirement community several years ago, I ended up with the giant tub of old family photos which I’ve been slowly scanning and archiving. I’ve been going through old photos of mom and loading those into her frame hoping they might spark her waning synapses of memory and give her even a fleeting moment of joy.

The other day I visited mom in her room. She was sitting on her sofa, the room was dark with the lights out and the shades drawn. I sat down next to her and together we watched the photos in the frame. There were photos of her childhood, her years as a mother, family vacations and gatherings, and photos of her great-grandchildren. She said very little. We just sat silently holding hands. She began stroking my hand softly as we watched her life scroll by.

Many people who have had near-death experiences (NDEs) speak of being taken through a review of their life on earth like a slideshow. The specific details vary, but the “life review” is a common element of most NDEs. I thought about that, and about my mother’s life, as we watched it pass before our eyes there on the digital frame.

In today’s chapter, King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel, conspire to steal a vineyard of a man named Naboth. Ahab simply wanted it because it was conveniently located near his palace. Naboth explained that it was his family’s land, allotted to them since the division of the land under Joshua, and they would never sell it. Jezebel uses her worldly power as Queen to create a scheme to have Naboth brought up on trumped-up charges and stoned to death along with his male heirs by her political cronies. I couldn’t help but think that Jezebel and Ahab’s actions are not unlike King David using his power to have Uriah the Hittite killed in order to marry Bathsheba.

Not unlike God sending the prophet Nathan to confront David about his sin, God sends Elijah to confront Ahab about his sin. Elijah states, and the author of Kings repeats that Ahab had “sold himself” to do evil in the eyes of the Lord. That was the summary statement of Ahab’s earthly life. The slideshow of Ahab’s life would show over and over again that he surrendered himself to whatever would make him rich and powerful, even if that meant surrendering himself to pagan gods and practices. The framing and killing of Naboth and his sons merely because Ahab coveted his garden perfectly encapsulated Ahab’s life.

In the quiet this morning, I found myself thinking about my mother’s digital life review that we watched the other day. The photographic evidence revealed a woman is loved and beloved by her husband, her children, and her family. It revealed a woman who worked hard, along with her husband, to create a life that was lovingly centered around faith and family, joy and laughter.

What a contrast to what the slideshow of Ahab’s life review must have looked like according to Elijah’s description.

And, that begs the question. What about the slideshow of my life review? What will it reveal? To what have I “sold myself” and surrendered on my life journey?

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

The Reward

May 2, 2022 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

When they had finished dividing the land into its allotted portions, the Israelites gave Joshua son of Nun an inheritance among them, as the Lord had commanded.
Joshua 19:49-50 (NIV)

In preparation for the Holy Saturday message I gave among my local gathering of Jesus’ followers, I’ve been doing a lot of studying about death. In particular, I’ve been reading about people who’ve had a Near Death Experience (NDE). These are individuals whose bodies literally died. No heartbeat, no brain activity, and no breath for a period of time until they were revived or miraculously returned to life.

There are a lot of commonalities in these experiences. If you’re interested, I recommend the book Imagine Heaven by John Burke (a shout out to Jen P for recommending it to me!). Among the commonalities in NDEs is a “life review” in which the person is shown a replay of their entire lives. Time is different in eternity. Even the Great Story speaks of eternity in which “a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like just a day.” Many describe their “life review” in those same terms. They saw every moment of their entire earthly life, but it only took what seemed like an instant.

Many who’ve experienced this life review also speak of the fact that the most important thing in this review was how well they loved others. Some mention that they saw the events of their life and could actually feel what others were feeling around them. For example, a childhood bully felt the agony of the person they victimized. A son forever estranged from his father, who had always blamed his father for their poor relationship, felt his parent’s emotions as he watched how he treated them as a youth, and he realized that he was just as much a part of the breakdown in the relationship.

Those who have experienced this NDE life review often speak of returning to their earthly lives with completely different priorities. They immediately begin to invest in relationships. They become more loving, generous, and faithful towards others because they died, they tasted eternity, and they learned that it’s the only thing that really matters just as Jesus taught.

Today’s chapter tells of the final allotments of the Promised Lands to the Hebrew tribes. In one final allotment, Joshua is given the town he requested in reward for his faithfulness. A few chapters back, it was Caleb who was first to receive an allotment. Now, Joshua is the last to receive an allotment. Joshua and Caleb were the only ones who originally spied out the land for Moses and had faith that the tribes could conquer the land and the people living there. The other 10 spies doubted. Over forty years later, Caleb and Joshua bookend the allotments of Promised Land and receive the rewards of their faith.

Joshua and Caleb received an earthly reward for their faith, and that got me thinking about eternity. The Great Story speaks of two distinct judgments to take place in the climactic final chapters of the Story. One is simply whether or not my name is written in the Book of Life. The second is described as an inspection of how well I built my life on earth as evidenced by how well I loved God and loved others. Based on what so many who’ve experienced an NDE describe, there is an eternal reward and the only thing that counts eternally is our love for others. Or as Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth:

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 (MSG)

And so, I enter another day and another work week with a huge task list, yet reminded that the real priority, the only thing that truly matters, is how well I love those with whom I interact.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.