My younger brother, Mike, was a Doctor in Clinical Psychology working for the NHS in Hastings.He and I were two of six children, four girls and two boys and our parents had been Jehovah's Witnesses when they met and married. When we were still young children, our Mum and Dad broke away from this 'Religion' and from then on my mother instilled in us a belief in humanity but a strong opposition to anything spiritual. When he was 37 years old, Mike was diagnosed as having cancer of the lymph glands. At this time he was married to Louise and had two small boys aged 4 & 6. Over the course of a year and despite a huge amount of medical intervention, Mike deteriorated in health rapidly. Eventually he was advised that the traditional medicine could do no more for him.
On the Wednesday night of Mike's week at the center, one of the therapists advised the patients that she would be taking them thought a guided visualisation session. This would be a relaxing therapy during which time the lights would be dimmed and gentle background music would be playing. she asked everyone to shut their eyes and to think of someone to come and heal them. She was sensitive to the fact that people in the room came from varying backgrounds and may have different beliefs. She suggested that those in the room who didn't have a particular faith should think of a friend who could help them.Miek started going through his list of friends, however, within seconds of closing his eyes he knew it was Jesus who had come to him. Starting with his head, Jesus healed Mike. Then Jesus said "Come on Mike, let's have some fun' and they laughed and ran and skipped and jumped and Mike said he he experienced more joy in those few moments than he had ever known. One week later Mike was baptised in a moving ceremony in his own home. By this stage he was extremely weak physically and yet he looked so happy. A further week later, Mike died. Just before he died, Mike said to Louise, "This is a lovely place but i don't want to leave you".
I had been at Mike's bedside when he died, along with Louise nd my older brother and sisters. We sat with Mike's body for hours after his death and we couldn't bear the thought of it being taken away. I said i would go downstairs to make everyone a cup of tea. Mike's house was in Pett just outside Hastings and his garden overlooked beautiful valleys which were full of grazing sheep. As i went to fill the kettle up I looked out of the window and actually thought I was looking at cardboard cut outs. The sheep which were spread out across several fields were all looking in the same direction, with their heads stretched right up to the sky. They were totally motionless and were evidently looking at something, although I could not see what. It was such an unusual scene that I thought my grief was playing tricks with me. As they remained so motionless I decided to call my brother and sisters down to seethe sight and to assure me that i was not going mad. They too were intrigued by the scene and watched as the sheep remained motionless for a further 20 minutes. After this, one sheep seemed to shake its head and then they all returned to grazing as normal. However, returning to 'normal' was not to be for me. After Mike's funeral, a very moving event, I tried to return to my work as a Director of a Housing Association. This was a role I had enjoyed for some twelve years, however I found it impossible to just slip back into this position as though nothing had happened. In fact in the end the only thing I could think of was who was this Jesus that Mike had met?
I decided to phone Robin, the Vicar in Pett, who had baptised MIke and carried out his funeral. I babbled something about a man called Jesus and valleys full of sheep. Robin invited me straight down to chat to him. He asked me if I knew that the bible had many stories of about sheep and a shepherd in it. I told him that I had no idea and explained that i didn't own a bible let alone looked at one. He gave me a little leaflet which invited me to say a prayer asking Jesus to come into my life. he then prayed for me and i took the leaflet home. That night i said the prayer that the leaflet suggested and I remember being anxious that my heart was not quite sincere enough. No flashing lights came and went, no visions - just stillness and quietness, yet somehow I knew that things were different and would never be the same again, and I knew that my search was over.
A year after Mike had died, Robin invited me back to his church for an evening service to remind the congregation of the events surrounding Mike's death. When I had finished relaying the story, a man and woman came up to speak to me. The man said he had waited a year to talk to me and that whilst he had never had the pleasure of knowing my brother personally, he did know the exact time time that he had died. I was intrigued by this and asked him to explain further. He said that on the Sunday morning that Mike had died, he and his wife had attended the early morning service and had stayed in the church to sort out the flowers. He that at exactly 11:00am a bright light came into the church, hovered around and went up through the roof, at that moment he turned to his wife and said "Dr Michael Bowles has just died". This was indeed the time brother has died.
Sadly, only a few months later, my lovely sister Jane was also diagnosed with secondary bone cancer. We were the best of friends and Phil and I had deliberately moved some years earlier to live in the next lane to Jane and her husband Keith. Jane was remarkable in every way, she was a gentle and loving woman. By the time of her diagnosis I had been attending church and going to a bible school for some time. She started to take a keen interest in my faith and every week she asked me to relay the sermon to her. Whilst in the hospice, Jane took her own leap of faith, and, Jesus welcomed her home. Just weeks later, she too died.
Please pray that my Mum and Dad (who both also have cancer) and my older brother and sisters will all come to know that Jesus died for them and that he loved them beyond their wildest dreams.