Reflections from a Near-Death Experience
This article was written by special guest writer Greg Barnes.
What do you think your final thoughts will be before you die? In a way, I actually know.
A few years ago, I was swept out to sea in horrible conditions, with absolutely nothing to hold onto other than my faith. The waves were 11 feet (3.4 meters) high. After an hour and a half of struggling to stay afloat, a rescue helicopter found me and pulled me to safety. My blood oxygen was so low, they told me, that if they had come just minutes later (10 minutes max, but more likely 5), I would have died. Miraculously, after being pulled into the water across a bed of sharp, rigid rock, I escaped the water with just minor scrapes and bruises, all of which I was able to treat myself. I went to the hospital as a precaution, and I was back at home within hours.
During the time leading up to my literal salvation, I had a lot of time to think. As a person who was at standing at death’s door, I can tell you what my thought process was like. Perhaps those thoughts from [what I believed was] the end might also be valuable in your own journey.
I realized: JESUS MATTERS.
Quickly upon entering the waters, I began asking God why he would allow this to happen to me. I began to gripe and complain. My attitude was really not good. Then I remembered that week was Passion Week, the week leading up to Easter Sunday, and my thoughts immediately turned to Good Friday. I thought of Jesus on the cross.
If he could die surrounded by people who were mocking and making fun of him, then I could die alone.
If he could die naked and humiliated, then I could die with my clothes on.
If he could die an excruciatingly painful death, then I could die a much easier one.
And as I continued to contemplate his death, two words came into my mind: grace & dignity. If Jesus could die a death of grace and dignity, then I could try to do the same.
My bad attitude quickly began to improve, all because I kept in mind that my situation was much better than the situation Jesus was in.
Regarding the subtitle “Jesus matters,” what I mean specifically is: having the perspective of Jesus matters, because that perspective can and should change mine. It matters to keep not only his life and death in mind, but also the way he lived and died; it matters so I can try to emulate that way. And I learned that I need to clothe myself with his attitude, even to the very end. Jesus matters. He always will.
I realized: OTHER PEOPLE MATTER.
As Jesus changed my attitude, I began to focus much less on myself and more on others. After the thoughts about Jesus, which I just shared, my attention shifted toward thinking of and praying for others.
I prayed first and foremost for my family, including my siblings, but specifically my parents. I prayed that God would give them a supernatural peace and tremendous comfort that would only ever be able to come from him.
I prayed for the two boys who went hiking with me. I prayed that they would not live in fear, and especially guilt. (I am now praying this prayer, and the previous one, for the family and friends of another boy who recently drowned in almost the same area. I would encourage you to do the same.)
I prayed for the church and the youth group. I prayed that God would send another youth leader who cares for the teenagers and who would lead them properly. And even though it probably wouldn’t happen, I prayed anyway that the joy of my church’s Easter Sunday celebrations would not be overshadowed by the grief of my loss.
Conclusion
Only after I was in the middle of writing this article, did I realize that one could summarize these lessons very well by repeating the words of Jesus. He said the “first and greatest commandment in the Law” was to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” The second greatest command, he said, was like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Loving Jesus and others is something I have been doing for years. Never perfectly, but I always try to improve. That day, the concept of loving God and others grew in its power in my life, and I have never forgotten those lessons. Situations can change, relationships can be renewed, hope can be restored — all by the power of loving God and others. Do not wait until you too are at death’s door before you apply the power of that love to your life.
About the Author
Greg Barnes is and tries harder to be more of a lover of Jesus and others. He was born and raised in Syracuse, NY. After graduating from Elim Bible Institute in Lima, NY, and living for a year and a half in Korea, he moved to Guam in 2011, where he still works with Korean people as a youth pastor.
