Wednesday 30th January 2002 was a strange day for me from the moment I awoke. I felt strangely disturbed and paced my home like a caged tiger, simply unable to settle down properly to anything. Praying did not produce any answer and I retired early that evening to fall into a fitful sleep. My wife Marge followed some time later and unintentionally woke me. She commented that I looked strange, asking if there was anything wrong, or if I felt ill. I felt quite well but was in some way very unsettled. 

The next morning was not very different. Marge woke late at approximately 9:30 am and felt an almost immediate compulsion to turn on our mobile telephone and place it next to me at my desk. We rarely used it then, using it mostly when absent or for emergencies. Within mere seconds, it started to ring. It was my son Robert and was the first of a series of such calls.

Robert told me that Gary was seriously ill in the Intensive Care Unit of the general hospital where he lived almost a thousand miles away. My son in law Scott telephoned me saying that it was very serious and that Gary had collapsed with a cardiac arrest and complications. My daughter Karen lives almost a thousand miles south and left a similar text message on the mobile to call her urgently, to which I replied

As a result, Marge and I immediately turned to the Lord for help, asking how serious this was and what should we do. His instant answer to each of us was, "Go up" so I booked a seat on the first available flight to go to my son. Marge was unable to go with me and started to help me pack as I sent Email prayer requests to my Christian family throughout the world. I also telephoned the prayer support offices of ministries with whom we are in partnership, asking for prayer support. This support was wonderfully received. Thank you to all my dear friends for your prayers and support and messages of love. As members of a most wonderful Family, it is our privilege to be knitted together in a common bond. When one member of the Family suffers, we all feel it together and it is a truly wonderful thing.

There was only one flight available in such a short time. Robert tried to get on that flight with me, but for some reason he was advised that there were no seats available and had to wait till the next flight several hours later. Strangely, there were many empty seats.

During the time I was packing and getting ready, we started declaring God's word and standing on what I regarded as a personal promise that I had been holding to for many years.  This is a very important part of the whole story.

Isaiah is most likely one of my favorite books in the bible. I like it so much because it speaks often about Jesus and because the Lord has spoken so much to me personally through the pages of this statesman prophet. Isaiah 54:10 sets the stage for one of these very important promises, saying-
For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.

The Lord and I had established a covenant some twenty or more years ago, in which he made a most wonderful promise to me regarding my family, which I often quoted this in prayer and thanksgiving. I often said that I desired to see at least one of my children serving God and for some unknown reason declared that my son Gary would become a preacher.

The passage I had been holding fast to says-
All thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children (Isaiah 54:13).

I kept speaking this portion of God's word and thanking him for it, continually saying, He shall live and not die, with the belief that God is faithful and honors his word. I stood on his own statement-

My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips (Psalm 89:34).

When I arrived at the hospital, the doctors took me into an interview room and explained the situation. The prognosis was not good. They then permitted Gary's mother, his sister Lenore and myself into the Intensive Care Unit to see my son.

He was in a coma on a life support system, with a maze of pipes and tubes and electronic sensors everywhere connecting him to huge arrays of instruments.

I held his hand and stroked and kissed his forehead often and spoke the words the Lord told me to say when in the aircraft, repeatedly quoting the scripture passages that were so dear to me.

I said as the Lord instructed. "Gary, this is your father here. I love you. I have always loved you. I never stopped loving you and I will always love you".

Marge told me before I left home to speak to my son. She said that he would hear every word I said, even when in a coma, which is often the case. If you are in attendance in such circumstances, please be careful how you conduct yourself, especially with your speech. They really are more aware of things than most of us realize. She was insistent upon it. She said that I might not witness any external signs of response, but assured me that he would be able to hear me.

For me personally, this was a somewhat new experience. Although not new to crisis situations, I had not seen anyone in such a severe comatose situation like this before. Strangely, I cannot remember her telling me anything about this. That is not unusual, because when one is in a crisis situation like this, the natural memory may not recall everything said and done, but one's spirit does and it is the spirit of man that is the most important ingredient in our lives. It was so with my son Gary. God's word, The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, is true!

Most times his family and the medical staff were present. I prayed softly and discreetly in the spirit and called to him to rally round with, "Come on Gary. Come out of this" messages as I spoke God's word. Even under such circumstances, God was kind and I was able to testify to the medical staff about his goodness, recounting stories of how God had remarkable healed Gary when he was as a child.

When Gary was in his first year of school, he contracted an illness that mystified the medical experts. Admitted to hospital in acute agony, Gary was placed in a plaster cast from his waist to his calf on the left side of his body. The doctors called his mother and I for an interview and explained that they sere simply unable to diagnose his condition. Showing us his X-rays, they pointed to the ball joint part of his left hip, revealing an area where the bone was actually in a state of decay.

At that time I was not saved, although I was deeply involved in a Church of England (Episcopalian) lifestyle. An itinerant evangelist was holding a long series of meetings at that time and I was invited to attend by some friends.  I declined often, but did promise to attend. One day they approached me, requesting permission for prayers for my son and I readily agreed. To cut a long story short, the Lord miraculously healed Gary. Several nights later, I kept my promise to attend the meetings and arrived on the very last night of the very last crusade of this man who resigned this position shortly thereafter.

During the opening hymn, Jesus stepped into my life. My conversion experience was similar in many ways to the conversion experience of the Apostle Paul on the Damascus Road. It was that bright light I saw which was the catalyst that changed my life and eternal destiny forever and I am so grateful to my Lord that he did what he did. In a manner of speaking therefore, Gary was an instrument used by the Lord to bring his own father into the Kingdom of God. That was on September 1, 1968.

On another occasion a few years later, Gary was saved from certain death by accidental poisoning and the Lord preserved him then. Now, in a hospital environment over thirty years later, I was standing beside my son. He was in a coma all the time. He gave no indications of life other than his supported breathing and various instrument readouts. His left eye was closed and his right eye was about one quarter open.

Suddenly, I found myself completely alone with him and again repeated, "Gary, my son. I love you. I have always loved you and I will always love you" as the Lord had instructed me, holding his hand as I kissed his forehead and rested my cheek against his.

Response:
His right eyelid opened for a fleeting second. His left eyelid fluttered slightly. Some of the instruments gave a sudden beeping sound and several of the graphical displays seemed to take a sudden "surge" and then everything returned back to their original state. It happened in what may have been mere fractions of a second, almost as fast as the twinkle of an eye, but to me it seemed much longer. I remember seeing a digital readout that had been hovering around the 65% mark, suddenly switch to 84% and then return.

The doctors had advised me previously that this readout should be a minimum of 80%. I did not know the purpose of this particular instrument then, but it certainly caught my attention.

Shortly after this, I returned to the waiting room for some time and my son in law suddenly stood up looking at his mobile telephone saying, "Robert's here" and went to the elevator. I followed him and we met Robert in the lobby and returned. As we exited the elevator, some of those present were standing outside the waiting room calling out urgently, "Hurry. Run. Run" and I ran down the corridor and straight into the ICU.

A few moments later, my dear son Gary died.

My wife Marge farewelled me, standing at the observation area as the aircraft took off. Another woman stood beside her and they engaged in a conversation. This woman's husband was a chaplain in the army and he had started on the first leg of his journey to Timor for a six-month tour of duty, traveling on the same aircraft as I. He was in full uniform and I noticed a man in army uniform waiting for a taxi slightly ahead of me in the queue at the taxi rank after we landed.

This woman had a most remarkable story.

She told Marge about a young man from their church who was ill in hospital. They went there to pray for him and whilst they were there, he died. The doctors revived him. He told them that he had been to Heaven and was very excited and happy. He said that he only came back to tell others of Heaven and to thank everyone for praying for him. He was unmarried and had no one special in his life, so he said that there was nothing here to hold him. He said, "I've tasted Heaven and I'm going back" and remained long enough to share his experience and then he went back home. I can fully understand him as I've also tasted Heaven and I long to go back!

She has a five-year old son who has had several visits to Heaven. He has described a fruit tree that produces fruit without skin or seeds that tastes wonderful. He spoke about how after picking one from the tree another fruit instantly appears in its place. I fully believe his story, because on one of my own fleeting visits to Heaven, I saw the same type of fruit tree in the "back yard" or what I call my "country house".  Apparently, I have three homes in Heaven. One is what I call my "town house", the other is this "country house" and the third is a sort of "high rise building" of most unusual colors, but this also is another story.

More amazingly is the story he tells of seeing a nursery in Heaven. It seems that this little boy has seen a large "nursery" in which there are many children, who are tended by  "nannies". He told his mother that he met a boy there, who was two years older than he and that this boy is called Joshua. Joshua came up to the lad and told him, "When you go back home, tell mummy that I love her and I forgive her".

This lady told Marge that she terminated a little boy and called him Joshua two years before she had her present son.

She said that she fell to her knees in tears when her boy told her about Joshua, exclaiming how wonderful it is to know that there is someone in Heaven who loves her so much, has forgiven her and she doesn't even know him! She is even more thrilled to know that he is waiting for her.

A little five-year old boy simply cannot imagine such things and he knew absolutely nothing about his mother's past.

When I boarded the aircraft, there was a sense of urgency, yet a calm resolve with me. My prayers were many and varied. I asked God to give me strength to cope and to give strength to others. I prayed earnestly for my son in the spirit and in English and repeated the scripture promises over and over. At one time, tears started to flow and a cabin attendant gave me a most unusual look and kept looking strangely at me thereafter. When she served refreshments, there was a gentle smile on her face that seemed to say, "I understand. I am with you".

As the flight continued, a calm resolve came over me to spend time with my son and tell him that I loved him. The Lord told me what to say to Gary and this is a very important aspect, which will become evident shortly.

Whilst we were circling out to sea in a slightly hazy but otherwise clear and cloudless sky well away from the storm front, I watched the sea far below and observed several displays of what I can only describe as "circles' or "balls of light", appear in the air some distance from the aircraft. I am well accustomed to seeing natural phenomenon before, but these were completely different and unlike anything I've ever previously encountered. There were about five in all and each one was completely circular in shape, with white light radiating out in all directions from what seemed to be a central core. Each one seemed to take up formation beside and slightly below the aircraft. None of them seemed to be a "natural phenomenon such as an electrical charge or "Saint Elmo's Fire" or rainbow-like effects. I doubted if they were caused by ice crystals or water vapor in the sky, which I have seen before, but could not explain the cause on this occasion. Their appearance never changed or altered in any way and it was something that mystified me. I felt a sudden peace flow into my being and had the very strong sensation of someone standing to my left at the aisle. At the same time, I sensed movement next to me as if someone sat in one of the vacant seats beside me. I instinctively turned to look, expecting to see a member of the cabin crew, knowing all the time that they were still seated as per the captain's instructions, but no one was there. This peace was definitely not normal. Part of me was in obvious emotional turmoil, but there suddenly came a joy and a peace that brought a smile to my heart that may well have also appeared on my face.

Suddenly, it seemed, the storm swept by in the distance and we resumed course, made our final approach and landed without incident.

Afterwards, I telephoned a pastor acquaintance of mine who I had not seen for over twenty years when we had co-ministered together in pioneering a church in a small town some distance away. He was a fellow traveller in that very same aircraft. Wanting to determine the authenticity of my sighting, I shared my experience in the aircraft. He had been seated above the wing area which would have of course restricted his vision, but the aircraft banked during its turns and he would have been able to have then seen those lights. He said that he never saw anything. From his description of his seating location, I would have been only two seats behind him. He boarded when I did from the same departure lounge and departed when I did, exiting from the only opened exit  into the same arrival area. We were the only flight landing at the airport at that time and the number of passengers was comparatively small... small enough for at least one small glimpse of peoples' faces, but we never saw each other at any time.