I have been to Heaven. I have seen God, heard His voice, and been embraced completely in His presence. I believe there is at least one person that needs to know that it’s not a fairytale. I wanted to share it with you today.

It was my fifth grade year when this gift happened to me. I was in the field with the neighborhood boys helping my granddaddy. We were in a field by my house, throwing rocks, limbs, and stumps to the back of a giant trailer while my grandadaddy was driving the tractor. He recently cleared a field for farming and needed to pick up the scattered pieces of wood. He was driving in rows but stopped for a minute and I saw this huge log under the trailer. I went under the trailer to get the log and then the trailer started to move forward. I know what you are thinking…why did you go under the trailer? I don’t know…it wasn’t my brightest moment! I was eye level with the tires, with my head resting on the recently dissed up dirt. I froze. Time stood still. I was gripped with fear but couldn’t move. It was a nightmare being frozen in fear and knowing at age 11 that I was going to die. I can still feel the tire slowly rolling over my nose and my face being smashed into the cold earth.

The next thing I know, I was flying upwards. I was moving pretty fast in a vertical like tunnel, much like a huge straw. I was spinning slowly around and around seeing pictures of fun events in my life. I saw pictures of me and my friends and family moments. It was like memory lane literally. I looked up and saw a bright light. I looked down and it was pure darkness right under my feet. The higher I went, the brighter it got until I came to the top of the tunnel.

It was so bright that I could not see anything. My eyes didn’t hurt but it was so bright I could not make out anything above, below, or to either side of me. I held up my hands and I couldn’t see them in front of me! What was crazy was I had complete peace. I can not describe that peace in words because I never felt it before or after. I wasn’t scared. I was actually overjoyed but in awe so much that I couldn’t move. All I could see was brightness around me and encompassed in total peace. It was like it His light was shining through me. Take the greatest hug you’ve ever had and multiply it by at least a thousand…still would not compare.

Then I heard the most powerful but gentle voice say, “Robbie it is not your time yet. You still have work to do.” That voice was so powerfully loud but not in a shouting way. You could feel love pouring out of His voice in those sentences but it was also very intimidating. Immediately I started to scream, “No!” with everything I had in me. What was crazy was I swear I was screaming but I couldn’t hear my own voice. I knew that God was there all around me and I did not want to leave His presence and His peace in Heaven. Instantly I starting descending downwards in the tunnel that I had just went up in. I lifted my head up and watched the brightness that once surrounded and blinded me, get smaller and smaller. All the pictures that I saw earlier were still there but as I passed them, the tunnel walls were breaking apart and it sent the pictures flying out into darkness. It was as if they were flying out into space. The further I went down, the faster I descended. I still had peace but I was already longing for the light that once encompassed me and grew so far away from me. Then everything turned extremely dark. With a hard jolt the darkness was gone and I saw my granddaddy’s eyes with tears streaming down his face holding me. He was scooping out as much of the dirt from my mouth and my throat as he could. I remember telling him that I saw God and that I was ok.

Shortly after that the ambulance came and took me to the hospital. The doctors were amazed and advised just a couple more inches and that would have been it. I was a miracle. Literally a couple of inches and that would have been it. The tires ran over 3/4’s of my head, the right side of neck, and my right shoulder. I came out blooded and bruised with a sling and that was it! I was telling everyone that I saw and heard God that day.

I really felt the need to share my story with you. God is real. His presence is real. Heaven is a real place. Nothing can compare to being in front of Him the way I was just standing there in Heaven listening to Him. The minutes that transpired felt like a lifetime. So powerful and intimidating but yet so peaceful and loving.

God loves you. He has prepared a place for you in Heaven, and I believe His message to me is a message for you too:

(Insert your name) it is not your time yet. You still have work to do!

God isn’t referring to office work or cleaning house work. He is referring to sharing the Gospel through your actions and words. Don’t take your day for granted. Each day is a blessing and opportunity. My prayer is decades from now, when I go back to Heaven and I stand before God again, He will say “Welcome back. You have finished your work”.