By Ada Brownell
EXCERPT FROM SWALLOWED BY LIFE:
MYSTERIES OF DEATH, RESURRECTION AND THE ETERNAL
Chapter One
An old
gentleman leaned on his cane and peered into the
cherry-red 1923 Model T Roadster. It glistened like a new car, but just a few
years earlier had rested in decay almost forgotten.
“This is just like the first car I
ever had,” he said, a twinkle in his eyes.
He and his son were examining four
antique cars brought to a senior care center as part of the National Nursing
Home Week celebration.
The man, like the Model T, was almost
an antique himself.
Before the old car found redemption,
from the front bumper down to the brown leather on the rumble seat, the old
Ford stood waiting for one last trip—to the junkyard. Many vehicles like it
have been retrieved from gullies, from behind the barn, and from buildings and
junkyards, metal-consuming rust eating away at running boards,
fenders, hoods, engines, and other vital parts.
Rust is the reddish-orange coating of ferric
hydroxide, the substance that causes oxidation of metal in the car’s body. When
metal rusts, it breaks down until its elements disappear into the air and into
the earth, leaving holes.
Doctors tell us oxidation occurs in
the human body, too, as we age and develop diseases. We aren’t eaten by rust,
but oxidation causes cell damage, and that is why nutritionists recommend we
consume foods rich in antioxidants, such as blueberries and green tea. In the
human body, life-essential oxygen combusts and produces by-products referred to
as oxygen free radicals, which cause aging.
Oxidation
is part of the second law of thermodynamics, a scientific term we seldom talk
about but see all the time when there is a loss of electrons in an atom. Every
barn you see with the roof caved in is an example of this law, which says in
simple terms that everything eventually falls apart because energy becomes less
organized with time.
Our
bodies do the same thing. As we age our sight grows dim, the ears less
discerning of sounds. Our memory slows. Our muscles and joints don’t work as
well. Our skin wrinkles. Our cardiovascular system becomes clogged or diseased.
Our lungs and vocal cords exhibit wear and tear. The body’s defense weakens and
diseases take up residence in us. Then, like an old automobile, one functioning
organ goes, and then another, until the loss of a vital part is enough to kill.
Death for the
human body is connected to the degradation of matter. Our mortal flesh isn’t
designed to last forever. Unless taken by death prematurely, like the
unrestored Model T covered in rust and with an engine that won’t run, the human
body wears out or just quits.
As I explained
before, I started studying about death and life after we lost our beautiful
eldest daughter, Carolyn, to cancer in 1990. A born-again Christian who could
quickly tell someone else what to believe, I found my faith challenged.
When I knew
Carolyn was dying, over and over I prayed, tears streaming down my face, my
insides feeling ripped out, “Where are you, God?”
My guts twisted
with anger and doubt. Fear choked me as I wondered if what Jesus said about
eternal life was really true.
I’d heard and
read what the Bible has to say. It says at death we will immediately be with
the Lord (Luke 23:43, Ecclesiastes 12:6–8) and at the resurrection, in a
moment, in a twinkling of an eye, our flesh will be changed into an immortal
body with all-new parts that never age, get sick, or die—even if that flesh has
already turned to dust.
Probably because
of my experiences and what I learned on the medical beat at the newspaper, I
decided to investigate if there is evidence we are more than a mere body.
I knew a
journalist’s assignment sometimes goes beyond the obvious. Facts aren’t
material objects that can be felt or seen. Through testimony and evidence,
truth can be learned. Interviewing witnesses, experts, and victims and making
visits to the scene help a reporter present facts to the public.
Yet,
when the story is all told, newspaper readers or television viewers react
differently. Some believe what is reported; others do not. Some doubt the
reliability of the reporter. Others assume the media conspires to deceive the
public. A few believe the persons interviewed are liars.
Those
who believe take the plunge into faith. I took that plunge and believe Jesus when He said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die" (John 11:26).
No matter what you believe about life after death, it takes faith. But there is evidence, and the eyewitnesses' testimony is recorded in the Bible. It's your decision.
©Copyright Ada Brownell 2012
SWALLOWED BY LIFE: Mysteries of Death,
Resurrection and the Eternal
By Ada
Brownell
Do you
know evidence shows we’re more than a physical body? The author, a prolific
religion writer and retired medical journalist, talks about the evidence; the
wonder of life with all its electrical systems; the awesome truth about cell
death and regeneration; mysteries surrounding the change from mortal to
immortal; where we go when our body dies; resurrection; and a glimpse at what
we will do in heaven. Questions and answers make this non-fiction inspirational
book a great text for group study. It’s written for support groups, religion
classes, people with chronic or terminal illness, individuals who fear death or
are curious about it, the grieving, and those who give them counsel.
An excerpt from Swallowed by Life
was featured in the June 2, 2013,
“Reading for Spiritual Health” edition of The Pentecostal Evangel.
Where
you can find Swallowed by Life:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/Jnc1rW
Barnes
and Noble: http://bit.ly/JnbKVL
Booksamillion.com
http://ow.ly/cJmx8
And you
can see reviews on GoodReads http://ow.ly/cJmMe
Christian Publishers
Outlet also has the paperback
Ada Brownell bio
Ada Brownell has been writing for
Christian publications since age 15 and spent much of her life as a daily
newspaper reporter. She has a B.S. degree in Mass Communications and worked
most of her career at The Pueblo
Chieftain in Colo., where she spent the last seven years as a medical
writer. After moving to Springfield, MO in her retirement, she continues to
free lance for Christian publications and write non-fiction and fiction books.
She is critique group leader of Ozarks Chapter of American Christian Writers.
She is author of Imagine the Future You, a Bible study; Joe
the Dreamer: The Castle and the Catapult, fiction released Jan. 15, 2013;
Swallowed by Life: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal, Bible study released
Dec. 6, 2011; and Confessions of a
Pentecostal, published by the Assemblies of God’s Gospel Publishing House
in 1978, out- of-print but released in 2012 for Kindle. All the books are
available in paper or for Kindle.
Twitter:
@adellerella
Blog: http://inkfromanearthenvessel.blogspot.com
Stick to Your Soul Encouragement
Amazon
Ada Brownell author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06
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