The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven: A Remarkable Account of Miracles, Angels, and Life Beyond This World Read Online Free PDF Page A

I still in shock?) that I was in the hospital gown—the kind with built-in air-conditioning in the back. My clothes had been cut from my body and were in the sack under my arm.
    “Here,” Kelly offered, holding out his leather jacket. Hospital gown and leather jacket—I was now dressed for the trip home.
    Arriving at the house sent eerie chills through my chest. I knew no one would be there. Even so, the house seemed especially dark, silent, empty. As I looked at the toys scattered across the room, I suddenly realized I hadn’t talked to my children and only very briefly to Beth. What was she feeling? What had the children been told? What did they know?
    I’m the man of the family. I was supposed to protect my wife and kids. I wasn’t with them, wasn’t protecting them, and wasn’t comforting them. I was the cause of everything. The darkness of my spirit descended like an angry cloud over my heart. The voice of fear whispered, Beth will hate you for doing this to your family . Shame for the present and fear for the future pierced my heart like talons from the darkness. The mocking voice threatened to drown out all others. Kelly’s presence was God’s provision for me.
    Like a continuously looping video, scenes of the accident—or at least as much as I could remember—played in my mind again and again as Kelly drove me to Columbus. There were so many gaps that I ended up in confusion with each new attempt to understand. For some time, Kelly was respectfully quiet, but finally he broke the silence.
    “You know, Kevin, from my house, the accident site is on the way to the hospital.”
    “So you drove by there on the way to pick me up?”
    “Yes, I did,” Kelly said gravely.
    “What do you think?”
    After a short pause, Kelly continued, his eyes growing moist. “It was really bad, Kevin.”
    “What do you think about Alex?” I asked, desperately looking for some reassurance.
    “It’s hard to say. Let’s see what we find out at the hospital.”
    Kelly wanted to prepare me for what might be, but he tried not to be specific. That would never do for me. I needed answers.
    “I need to know what you think, Kelly. Do you think Alex is all right?” Somehow it was important for me to hear him say what his face already revealed.
    “Kevin, I don’t think Alex made it. I think that Alex has gone to be with Jesus. I am so sorry, brother.”
    I looked out the window as my eyes instantly brimmed with tears, choking back the pain of those words. My heart was breaking. God, I can’t take this. Please don’t make me say good-bye—not this way. Not because I drove out in front of an oncoming car. Oh, God, please save my boy. Please save my firstborn son, my little buddy, Alex.
    For the next few miles, while Kelly drove on in silence, waves of pain and grief battered my heart. In the midst of it all, a lone, small voice from somewhere deep within made the case that Kelly couldn’t be certain of Alex’s condition— Don’t stop praying for Alex. Don’t stop.
    We pulled up to Children’s Hospital. Kelly parked, turned off the engine, paused, and looked at me.
    “Are you going to be okay?”
    “This is hard, Kelly.” I grimaced, taking in a deep breath. “You know, Beth and I have driven by here a hundred times. We’ve often talked about how sad a place it is—how we hoped we’d never have to go in there. And now here we are.”
    In minutes, I would meet Beth inside those walls. All the countless times Beth had told me to slow down and pay more attention to the road flooded my mind. She had warned me dozens of times to be more cautious, to be more careful with the kids, especially in play activities with Alex and Aaron. I’d always thought she was so overprotective and spent far too much time worrying. It wasn’t that long ago that I had said, “Hey, relax. I didn’t kill them.” How those words haunted me now as I braced myself to face her.
    Strength under Pressure
    My Beth is one amazing woman. Only one