Hear the Authors of "90 Minutes in Heaven" LIVE tonight

Who hasn't wondered what happens after you die? Is heaven real? Is there life after death?

Don Piper is one man who had the chance to find out.

Several years ago Don's car was crushed by a truck on a narrow bridge in Texas. That horrific car accident left him in hopeless shape. Medical personnel at the scene pronounced him dead . A passing pastor was told it was useless to pray for Don, but he prayed anyway.

And guess what? God had a different plan for Rev. Piper. Don told his story in the best-selling book "90 Minutes in Heaven". God has used his experiences to bring hope and comfort to thousands of people all over the world. And this evening you can hear him LIVE for yourself.

Tonight on the online call-in show "Cec and Me," Don & co-author Cec Murphey will be talking about Don's experience, the book and taking calls with any comments and/or questions you may have.

If you are interested in life after death, near death experiences, heaven or just what happens after you die, please listen tonight to

http://toginet.com/shows/cecandme

Tues, Dec. 7 at 8 PM eastern, 7 PM central time.

This is an online program. You listen on your computer. Just click on the purple colored link shared above to get to the show. To listen, click on the box at the upper right that reads "LIVE ON AIR click here to listen" And be sure to call in with questions/comments.

If you miss the show on this Tuesday, you can still hear it any time by going to the show and clicking on the archives.

Mourning Coffee

Thanks to our guest blogger Donna Smythe Teti, for today's moving post.

“The Lord is close to the broken hearted and those crushed in spirit he saves.”
34:19 the New American Bible

Mourning Coffee

“Hi Donna, let’s meet at the park for coffee.” My twin sister Sue called over the phone. “I will pick up some coffee along the way.” Or “Hey Sue, do you want to meet at the bookstore and grab a coffee?” I’d call and ask her after we put our kids on their school buses at opposite ends of the same town.

We spent many a morning with a coffee in hand and some great conversation. We fell over each other’s words as we chatted about our kids, husbands, our faith and how to solve all the world problems. We gave each other piece of mind, comfort and encouragement as we worried about all the things moms worry about.

But suddenly at the age of forty my dear twin sister had a massive stroke. In three days she was gone. With great pain and great faith I let her go.

My faith carried me for a while but as the days passed naturally I missed my sister more and more. I missed our daily conversations and the comfort and insight that she gave me on life. Without her words of wisdom my faith began to waiver. I think faith is easy until one has to really believe in it.

Each morning after the kids went to school I sat in my family room, drank my coffee and “talked” to my sister in Heaven. I told her how much I missed her and how scared I was. “How am I going to get through this grief Suzy?” I shouted out loud one morning to her as I sipped from a steaming hot cup of coffee. It was then I felt a message touch my heart. Jesus is here too. Sue seemed to say.

Wow! In my grief and anger towards God I had forgotten that! So I poured a fresh cup of coffee, sat down in my family room and thought about Jesus. I shut my eyes and tried to picture Him there in my home chatting with me over coffee…just as Sue and I had done so many times. What would I say? What would He say?

I offer to you whose hearts are broken, the poem I wrote about that visit with Jesus.

Warmest Blessings,

Donna Teti

Having Coffee with Jesus

Each morning as I awake
Sadness floods my heart again
So I pour a cup of coffee and pray
My heart will start to mend

On this particular morning
As my grief began to soar
I went to get the paper
And found Jesus at my door

As He entered through the doorway
Sunlight covered every wall
When He smiled and looked me in the eyes
He stirred my very soul

He thought that I could use a friend
Who knew sorrow and knew pain
He saw that I was grieving
And that is why He came

Jesus knew that I was hurting
And feeling life was quite unfair
And He knew I spent each morning
With good coffee and good prayer

Jesus wanted me to know
In that early morning hour
He was there to share with me
His gentle healing power

He felt that it was important for me
To see Him face to face
Sometimes we need to be engulfed
In a strong and warm embrace

As He wrapped His hug around me
His love through me did flow
Then He asked to sit with me awhile
And have a cup of Joe.

As I poured His cup of coffee
I had so much on my mind
Yet He knew what I was thinking
And He answered, she is fine

He told me she is here with me
Each morning while in prayer
She continues to love and care for me
Each day throughout the year

He tried to answer questions
Though the mysteries could not be told
But He asked that I just trust in Him
For someday they would unfold

As we sat and drank our coffee
I stared on in disbelief
That Jesus would actually come to me
And help me through this grief

Jesus said He enjoys these mornings
When I sit with Him and pray
Even though I can not see Him
He too is with me every day

As Jesus drank His coffee
I spoke of sorrow, loss and pain
He did not speak but His Presence there
Was healing just the same

He understood my emotions
As He wiped my tears away
He confirmed with a sympathetic smile
These feelings were OK

I said I feared my broken heart
Would never heal completely
Because the loss I felt inside
Was in my soul so deeply

Jesus agreed the pain would subside
But never quite go away
So He would surround that pain with love
As I met with Him each day

He said that when He walked the Earth
He turned to His Father in prayer
It got Him through each moment
When His life seemed quite unfair

He encouraged me with compassion
To look for joy between the tears
There are many Blessings in my life
That will make for happy years

Jesus eyes lit up as He reminded me
Our lives will go well beyond
As He described the joy in Heaven
When all heartache will be gone

Jesus said that He would carry me
Through this aching and this loss
As His Father in Heaven had done for Him
The day He met His cross

He said this is why it is such a gift
Just talking with Him each day
It enables Him to comfort me
As I sit with Him and pray

When Jesus left my house that morning
I knew His Spirit was still there
So I refilled my cup of coffee
And continued on in prayer

Copyright © 2006 by Donna Teti


Donna Teti has been published in both Guideposts Magazine and Cecil Murphey’s Christmas Miracles. She is also a 2008 winner of the Guideposts Writer's Workshop Contest. Her story Balloons of Hope has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul’s Book of Miracles available in stores September 21, 2010.

http://www.donnateti.com/

With Hope - Steven Curtis Chapman

Today's post is a song of comfort for anyone who has lost a loved one. May Stephen's words bring you comfort and grace and reminding you of the hope of heaven to come.

Music and Lyrics by Steven Curtis Chapman
Speechless, 1999, Sparrow Records
No copyright infringement intended

Based on 1 Thess. 4:13-14 and Heb. 6:9, 10:23


This is not at all how
We thought it was supposed to be
We had so many plans for you
We had so many dreamsAnd now you've gone away
And left us with the memories of your smile
And nothing we can say
And nothing we can do
Can take away the pain
The pain of losing you, but ...

We can cry with hope
We can say goodbye with hope
'Cause we know our goodbye is not the end, oh no
And we can grieve with hope
'Cause we believe with hope
(There's a place by God's grace)
There's a place where we'll see your face again

We'll see your face again
And never have I known
Anything so hard to understand
And never have I questioned more
The wisdom of God's plan
But through the cloud of tears
I see the Father's smile and say well done
And I imagine youWhere you wanted most to be
Seeing all your dreams come true
'Cause now you're homeAnd now you're free, and ...

We have this hope as an anchor
'Cause we believe that everything
God promised us is true, so ...

We wait with hope
And we ache with hope
We hold on with hope
We let go with hope

We wait with hope

Top 50 Cancer Survival Inspiration Blogs

I recently found a great post on the link below. I hope you will find it useful, inspiring and a great way to connect with others struggling with the issues cancer brings to our lives.

"Top 50 Cancer Survival Inspiration Blogs
Once diagnosed with cancer, patients can feel isolated and alone, even from those closest to them. Using the internet as a tool, now they can reach out to anyone, anywhere in the world who wants to share their experience with this devastating disease. They can research, ask questions, post their own story, or they can simply read the stories of those who have been where they are going. From breast cancer to leukemia, these 50 sites cover a variety of subjects."

http://http//radiologytechnicianschools.net/top-50-cancer-survival-inspiration-blogs/

Words of Comfort for Times of Loss

Through great personal loss, authors Cecil Murphey and Liz Allison, http://www.lizallison.com/index.html have gained insight to share with others who are going through uncertainty, depression, and loneliness after losing a loved one. They also offer advice for those comforting someone who is grieving.

Among comforting paintings by artist Michal Sparks, brief stories, personal experiences, and prayers offer a meaningful path toward healing for readers when they:

• feel alone and lost in their grief and want to reconnect with others and to life
• seek to make sense of their loss alongside their sense of faith, purpose, and God
• want to honor their loved one without clinging to the past in unhealthy ways

Readers are given gentle permission to grapple with doubt, seek peace, and reflect on their loss in their own way without judgment and with understanding and hope. A perfect gift for a loved one dealing with loss.

If you purchase a copy of Cec’s newest gift book, Words of Comfort for Times of Loss, for $11, I will give you a hardback copy of Heaven Is Real (a $22 value) free. (The offer is good while supplies last.) You might want to donate these books to your church library, a grief support group, a ministry, or give them to a friend. Contact Twila Belk at twila@gottatellsomebody.com or 563-332-1622.

A message from the author of When Someone You Love Has Cancer

When Shirley walked in from the garage, she didn't have to say a word: I read the diagnosis in her eyes. I grabbed her and held her tightly for several seconds. When I released her, she didn't cry. The unshed tears glistened, but that was all.

I felt emotionally paralyzed and helpless, and I couldn't understand my reaction. After all, I was a professional. As a former pastor and volunteer hospital chaplain I had been around many cancer patients. I'd seen people at their lowest and most vulnerable. As a writing instructor, I helped one woman write her cancer-survival book. Shirley and I had been caregivers for Shirley's older sister for months before she died of colon cancer.

All of that happened before cancer became personal to me—before my wife learned she needed a mastectomy. To make it worse, Shirley was in the high-risk category because most of her blood relatives had died of some form of cancer. Years earlier, she had jokingly said, "In our family we grow things."

In the days after the diagnosis and before her surgery, I went to a local bookstore and to the public library. I found dozens of accounts, usually by women, about their battle and survival. I pushed aside the novels that ended in a person's death. A few books contained medical or technical information. I searched on-line and garnered useful information—but I found nothing that spoke to me on how to cope with the possible loss of the person I loved most in this world.

Our story ends happily: Shirley has started her tenth year as a cancer survivor. Not only am I grateful, but I remember my pain and confusion during those days. That concerns me enough to reach out to others who also feel helpless as they watch a loved one face the serious diagnosis of cancer.

That's why I wrote When Someone You Love Has Cancer. I want to encourage relatives and friends and also to offer practical suggestions as they stay at the side of those they love.

The appendix offers specific things for them to do and not to do—and much of that information came about because of the way people reacted around us.

It's a terrible situation for anyone to have cancer; it's a heavy burden for us who deeply love those with cancer.

Cecil Murphey

When Someone You Love Has Cancer
Publisher: Harvest House ISBN: 978-0-7369-2428-3 Retail: $10.99

For more information about the book or the author, contact Twila Belk at twilabelk@mchsi.com or 563-332-1622.

Visit Cecil Murphey’s Web site: http://www.themanbehindthewords.com/