When I picked up this book, I expected to be blown away by an array of near-death-experiences and literal "glimpses-of-heaven." That's not exactly what I got. After reading the introduction, I realized the author was speaking of heaven as the kingdom of God and the Holy Spirit here on Earth. So, there were more stories of kindness, love, forgiveness, and compassion than all out NDEs. There are a few stories about little children seeing / hearing Jesus and people seeing angels, but most others are just about people dying contently knowing that God loves them. Readers may not like or agree with everything in the book, but the author probably had good intentions. My main criticism is for when the author puts the first story in her book. It is about a dying young wife. Her husband wants her to feel beautiful one last time, so he gives her a bath (cleaned up version I am writing here). The author goes on to say that that is how Jesus loves us. While I know she probably meant that God loves us and wants us to feel beautiful even when we feel ugly, I do not think the analogy was the best. Love is love, but the love of God is not romantic. Again, I am sure she did not mean for it to come out that way, but it just did.
Available November 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group
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