To Heaven and Back (16 page)

Confused by this driver’s behavior, Willie returned to his own car, pulled to the side of the road, and called me on his cell phone. Thinking
that maybe the other driver had not seen Willie or even noticed that his car had been struck—although why else would he have stopped on the exit ramp? I suggested that Willie return to the other car and tap on the window to get the other driver’s attention. He did so, but got the same result.

He returned to his car and, again, called me. I suggested that Willie write our insurance information on a piece of paper to give to the other driver, walk to the car while keeping me on the phone, and offer to have me speak with the other driver. I listened from my end of the phone line as Willie walked to the car for the third time and asked the driver if he would speak with me. I heard silence followed by a piercing scream.

The other driver had produced a handgun and was pointing it directly at Willie. Willie was frozen with fear, but fortunately his phone was frozen to his ear. As a result, I did not have to overcome his screaming to speak to him. I was able to speak directly into his brain: “Run, get in your car, turn the key in the ignition, drive away, do
not
stop!”

I certainly do not know if my son would have been shot had I not been on the phone with him when the other driver pointed his gun at Willie. What I do know, however, is that I am the only person who could have broken through to Willie’s brain and given him instructions that he would
unquestioningly follow. I believe that on that day in Salt Lake City, my son reached a branch point in his life that led either to the death he had predicted so many years earlier or to his continued life. Despite the angel’s earlier words that I would need to be a rock of support for my family and community after Willie’s death, I felt like the plan for Willie had changed. Because I was alive, Willie stayed alive.

I was also sent back to earth to protect the health of my husband. Recall that two of our dear friends had recently died unexpectedly, and both of presumed heart attacks. They were both men about the same age as my husband: fifty-three years old. Like my husband, both men were physically fit and active and neither man smoked cigarettes, drank alcohol, or used recreational drugs. Neither “should” have died. Both had close and loving families as well as deep faith.

I did not want Bill to walk down the same road as these men, so I started pestering him to have an evaluation of his heart. Had I not returned to earth after my boating accident and been present to prod
him, Bill doubts he would even have considered being evaluated. But I was there, so he was evaluated. He had a calcium-scoring CT scan in December 2007; a specialized test that specifically evaluates the amount of calcium present in the blood vessels of the heart. It is a non-invasive way of determining if coronary artery disease is present and, if so, to what degree.

The good news was that his heart looked perfect: no calcium, no coronary artery disease. When they performed the scan, however, the doctors had slightly misaligned the scanner. It was off-center by just a fraction and on the very, very edge of the resulting images the radiologist saw a small nodule in Bill’s lung tissue.

Hoping that it was evidence of an infection, Bill was placed on antibiotics. At home we racked our brains trying to think of any unusual exposure he may have had to asbestos, tuberculosis, or one of the other types of lung infections that were frequently seen in his birthplace of Southern California. A few days later, when a repeat CT scan of his lungs showed no change in the images, he underwent a CT-guided biopsy. The results showed a malignant tumor of the lung. We arranged for removal of this tumor, which was able to be done thoracoscopically. He was discharged from the hospital after only one day and he was gently skiing within a week. He has gone on to recover fully and his follow-up CT scans have confirmed the absence of any recurrence. His positive outcome is likely
due to the very small size of the tumor at the time of its discovery.

Throughout our lives, we are conditioned to see each of the events of this sequence in isolation, and to think of them as “coincidental” or “lucky.” When you consider the entire sequence of events, however, it is difficult to discount the possibility of it being miraculous. Had our two good friends not died, I would not have insisted on an evaluation. Had I died on the Chilean river, Bill would likely not have had a heart evaluation. Based on the tumor type, had the scan not been misaligned, the mass would not have been found until it was larger, making it too late to hope for a cure. If the identified mass had been two millimeters smaller, it would not have been visible on the scan. Three millimeters larger, and it would have put Bill into a far more ominous statistical category, with a much worse prognosis. Without my return from heaven after my boating accident, our four children might have become orphans. At the time, I believed this was the protection of my family for which I had been sent back.

Chad Long was a delightful young man, but I did not know him well prior to my trip to Chile. His spiritual faith had been another explanation given to me for my return to earth, and I was told I would play an important role in his becoming a godly man. For years this was a source of great confusion for me, for I already believed Chad to be a godly man; He had been born into a Christian family, had married a Christian woman, and was never shy about discussing the role God played in his and his family’s life. Although I knew what I had been told by the angel, I really couldn’t imagine what I could contribute to Chad’s faith.

In preparing for the writing of this book, I spoke individually with each of the Longs. I asked them to recount, without my interruptions or comments, their recollections of the circumstances of my boating accident and to also recall their emotions. Chad gave me his account and, as he was describing the effect the events had on his life, he disclosed that for the several years leading up to my trip to Chile he had been “in a bad place.” He had not been the person he wanted to be, and felt that he had been suffering the age-old battle between God and Satan. Before going to Chile in the winter of 1999, he had been struggling in an unhealthy relationship and was lying to himself and others about the type of person he was becoming.

At the end of the Chilean boating season the year Bill and I went, Chad returned to Idaho with memories of my accident, but also re-entered the same unhealthy relationship and personal environment he had left. He wrestled with his faith, especially with the question of how to be a godly man. He said that when he allowed himself to contemplate the experiences and miracles related to my accident, he began to understand and believe that if a person can let go of the earthly logistics of life, live in faith, and give control to God, great things can happen and the supernatural can occur. Without God, our options are limited.

He points to my boating accident as a major turning point in his life; the point at which he became comfortable in his faith and comfortable
in his relationship with God. It resulted in his consciously choosing to make the changes necessary to live a godly life.

Chad is now reconciled with God, is no longer afraid to alienate people by being open about his faith, and he relies on God to direct his life. Speaking with him about the impact of my accident on his life resolved my long-standing confusion about what the angel had told me, and I am profoundly grateful to have been an instrument through which God called to him.

Life in our household is hectic and usually bustling with activity. We each have a variety of interests and endeavors, which makes our daily home life exciting, interesting, and satisfying, if not always predictable. By early 2009, I had lived up to what I believe were many of God’s expectations for my life and I felt content. My husband was healthy, our three younger kids were active, happy, and blossoming into wonderful young people, and Willie, our oldest child, was positively flourishing.

In the period after his eighteenth birthday, Willie led a joyful, albeit frenzied life. He had a terrific season of Nordic skiing, winning his seventh
and eighth Wyoming State Championships (a record for which he was featured in
Sports Illustrated
“Faces in the Crowd”). He also expanded the non-profit environmental organization he created to promote local “no-idling” policies and enlisted the support of many local businesses for this cause. He strongly believed that encouraging people to make a conscious, environmentally-based choice about turning off their car engines would prompt them to think about their other choices as well; even small choices can make a difference when added together. He believed that we are each the ripple of hope described in Robert Kennedy’s 1966 speech at the University of Capetown, South Africa:

Willie was intrigued by the political process as a means for change and in 2008, when he was only eighteen years old, he was elected by members of our community to be a Wyoming delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. Willie’s sincerity, energy, and never-ending flow of ideas for living responsibly and making the world a better place for all was enormously
contagious. He was passionate about making a difference in our world and inspired those around him to care about issues, to get involved, and to become better people in the process. It didn’t matter to him what a person’s “issue” was; he just wanted people to get involved and make a difference. I admired his passion and could not have been more delighted with the man Willie was becoming.

Despite my reasonable sense of contentment, I knew I had at least one big job left to do before I could truly rest contented in God’s presence: I was supposed to share my life stories and experiences by talking about them and writing about them. I knew that I had been given the many experiences of my life, my death, and my return so that I could use my experiences and observations to help others stop doubting and just believe—believe that spiritual life is more important than our physical one. Believe that God is present and at work in our lives and our world. Believe that we are each a beautiful part of an intricate tapestry of creation. Believe there is no such thing as “coincidence.”