Hi Ken! I posted this on another board, too, if it looks familiar, but I wanted to share with you and your friends here also. I'm really enjoying coming to your site and reading the posts, even if I don't always comment. Thank you! :)

My husband's grandfather is 88, and very sick with cancer. He has been on the brink of death for weeks now. This morning, he insisted on seeing all adult members of the family (he didn't want anyone to be distracted by children) and speaking, with a tape recorder going.

He described the previous weekend, when an infection sprang up on the side of his face, and down his neck. I didn't see the infection or the swelling (although I had seen him that afternoon) but I heard it was bad. He said the pain was terrible, and the swelling so bad he thought his skin was going to split.

The nurses gave him high doses of antibiotics, and did all they could.

He said he went "over the top" - past the point of recovery. He said "he" made a hole in the clear blue sky, as with a knife. (Not sure if he meant God or the angel Michael). He said he first saw the boots - huge, extremely and incredibly shiny black, with a red stripe, that curved over the knee. He was very impressed by the boots, and the whole appearance of the arch-angel Michael. He spoke of how he wouldn't want to go against him, especially with those boots on, and that he could see how Michael had driven them out of heaven. (Sorry - I don't personally know any biblical history about Michael.)

He wept a lot during this telling, and said it was very emotional. He said the angel held him between his knees, tight. He told him God had more work for him to do, and it wasn't his time yet, and sent him back to his body.

Very quickly, the swelling improved. He had his daughter in law take a picture 4 hours after this, and he looks completely normal.

He said he didn't know what the work was going to be, but the next morning, he found out. God told him the first step was to repair his relationship with his sister in law. He said they have despised each other for 50 years.

So, this morning he said he would, today, make a recording of his apology to Aunt Polly, and let her know that he would like to make amends with her.

It was very moving. I don't know what the rest of the family thinks about this. I suspect my husband thinks he is delusional (he won't talk about it), as does my father in law. Of course, I believe him completely. It makes so much sense to me, and fits with everything I've read and experienced about forgiveness and God's plan.