Thursday, January 28, 2010

In His Presence - Rick's Story

Imagine this:
One second you are on earth going about your business and the next second you are in the presence of  a   Light so pure and holy that you are instantly aware that this is the Holy Spirit. Every thought that you have ever had, every moment of your life is made present to you all at once. The great, the good, the bad and the ugly, every action and deed is known clearly in the light of truth. There are no ands, ifs or buts about it, you have just died, you are in the presence of Truth Itself and are about to be judged by Jesus.

Why, you may ask am I writing this? Well, I was thinking of a conversation I had with a man named Rick years ago. His wife worked for my mom's company and she kept on telling me that I had to hear her husband's story. One day Rick came over and proceeded to do just that:

Rick was riding his motorcycle one day, got in a terrible accident, died and found himself in the presence of Jesus. He was surrounded by Love but was also made aware of how far from Christ he had lived his life. Every single second of his life was shown to Him. He also met, "A beautiful lady dressed in blue." Rick said that he thought this was Mother Mary. After his life review Rick had no words but these, "I'm sorry Lord. I'm just a little guy from Minnesota." The Lord sent him back to earth after this and Rick was a new man. He was in the hospital for 7 months but cherished every day that he was alive. It was very hard on his wife, Carol, because she had a hard time understanding the new Rick. If she made even the slightest negative comment about another human being he would get up and walk away. She told me that his ears couldn't take it :) Rick  had a powerful conversion, he also came away from the experience with a great devotion to Our Lady. He calls her his mother.

I was touched by his story but it also made me realize how imperfect I was and still am. Still...what an amazing story. I have no reason to doubt it. As Carol put it, "Something sure happened to him because this Rick is nothing like the Rick I knew before the accident!" It makes one wonder doesn't it? I ask myself if I would be ready for this and the answer is: No, not yet. I have my work cut out for me. His story lingers in my mind, though. God was very merciful and gave him a second chance. I do like to pray for the dying, who knows what kind of grace our prayers obtain for them. Rick said that he was rotten before this happened. I think his next review will go much better :)

12 comments:

  1. Your welcome, Victor. May God bless you too!

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  2. Great post Mary, I am hesitatant about my life review for sure and no matter how I try to walk in God's light always I know there are times I don't succeed.....time to take a deep breath and get back into the light.....thank you for posting this.......:-) Hugs

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  3. That's great Mary, thanks for sharing. I love that story. The people that walk in darkness have seen a great Light! Better to come to it in this life as much as we can bear it, and 'acclimatise' for heaven :)

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  4. beautiful and thought provoking...thanks!

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  5. Wonderful story Mary! I've heard stories like this before, and it always makes me wonder why a person would want to come back. I think if I were bathed in that light with visions of Mary, I would never want to leave. I would be depressed to come back and would only think about returning to heaven. I guess it's just another mystery I'll never understand until I get to the other side.

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  6. Oh this is great Mary. I love stories like this. It makes it more personal too, as you actually know the person! I could just sit and listen to the experiences of others forever...I'm just so amazed how the Lord works. Love it!

    And I'm not ready yet either...the last couple of days even I've been self assessing in what I need to fix. :)

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  7. Hi Mary,

    I remember Rick and him telling his story around the kitchen table on one occasion in particular. That was before my conversion of course but I do remember seeing a look in his eyes for a moment like a Holy fear of The Lord (you taught me that expression when I was going through my conversion). btw, I'm "almost" ready to tell my conversion story on a blog, but first I'm going to get comfortable with blogging and write for the conversion of hearts against the lies of pro-choice propaganda. I haven't posted anything yet. Soon I hope...
    Love reading your blog posts every weekend!

    Love,
    John

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  8. Anne,
    I got the impression that Rick didn't have a choice, this was a merciful gift to Him.

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  9. John,
    I thought that you were there! I know Mom was. Mom gave Rick a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Carol said that He was thrilled when she gave it to Him. Carol told me that Rick lost all his friends except one because they thought he was nuts. I remember Rick's eyes were wet when he told his story.

    I can't wait till you start your blog. I'll be your first follower! I know you feel called to have a pro-life blog. E-mail me the URL when you post so that I can follow that one, too :)

    For those who are reading the comment section, John is my brother and also had an incredible conversion.

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  10. Glory be to God for He is so merciful! This is a great story.

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  11. Yes, His mercy encompasses every single one of us :)

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