"be Not Afraid, It Is I Peter"

Let this be for

... Those who have seen their beloved pass from their view...

... Those who lie ill and are without hope...

... Those who are afraid of their human mortality...

... And for those who long for peace with life...

The following is my best description of a very personal and a most remarkably true event. It was the early 1970's. And I was about 22 years of age. I lived in Michigan, suburb of Detroit. I am asleep in my bedroom (3 - 4 am). I wake up facing the wall to my left, and I raise my head. Compelled for some reason to turn my head, I look then to the right, and there, a few feet from my bed, is a Light. Not a light bulb, nor light coming through the window. It was a Light from a different dimension (Light, that of itself, was alive!) that just opened up in the middle of my small bedroom. And I was just about to release an audible "huh?"

When the Light Speaks,"Be Not afraid; it is I, Peter."

I barely had time to blink or feel the fear that was just readying to rise when the voice slowly spoke again,

"Be not afraid; it is I, Peter." But this second time the voice and words seem to come from literally everywhere inside me and around me. I was immersed in their energy and sound, and I subsequently found myself to have departed from this earth entirely.

I was a Light just like Peter. I was following behind him, not on legs, however, as I had no human body. I was more like a

Living Light-filled Expanding Orb of Consciousness, for lack of better words, and all of me was totally sobbing with joy!

And I mean, soul-deep sobbing over and over again exclaiming, "It's so Good to be Home again!" and nothing had ever felt better, truer, and more Real. Freed from the earth, and finally, Home Again! YES!

We were moving in what felt like a diagonal slant upward direction. I saw nothing and no one else. And the further we proceeded, the larger I kept expanding, all the while filling up even further with a joy that was truly indescribable

And so intense!

Incredibly, in just seconds, it felt as though I had swelled to hundreds of miles in every direction! (Could there be too much of a good thing because I was losing control?) I was trying to now hold on to my (already way the heck out there) boundaries.

I was like a gigantic balloon and my fingertips (that did not exist, though I was trying to use some form of that thought) were stretched to the max and now failing in their effort to contain the now-impending explosion of nuclear joy! Yikes!? And as strange or humorously stupid as this may sound, I was suddenly afraid of blowing up!

OK, sure, with Joy Beyond Comprehension, but still, I'm feeling like this balloon is going to burst and Pop! Goes the ME-zel.

I stop. (Apparently fear acts like a brake, even there.) Peter now stops and turns to me and says gently and with assurance,

"Come, it's just a little further; you're almost there," but I reply, "I don't know how!" Now is that hysterical or what?

But I really was occupied with the whole holding on to some kind of boundary idea, and I feel apologetic that I wimped out at the last moment, a hair's breath from certain changes to my ego that I sensed might render me void of any chance of retaining a relevant first and last name, leaving me likely speechless and more likely, me-less.

But Peter knew where I was at before I did, and then warmly confided to me "Just wanted to show you, so you know." And just as suddenly I was returned to this world; me, my body, the room, my bed, and I was delightfully intact with a whole new understanding of the truth of our soul and of our home not being of this earth, but in that of the infinite ether of spirit.

I slid out of my bed and knelt in profound gratitude and thanked my Father and my brother for this most blessed moment of my life. I knew that all of us, you, me, your family, friends, neighbors, every one of us - are actually together forever. That was a very reassuring thing to know with absolute certainty at the young age of twenty-two.

This was not a near-death experience, I was simply taken and returned. It was the coolest trip of my life, and the awe and preciousness of it remains with me always. To say I am grateful is an understatement. For those that may wonder if this divine soul-snatcher is the same entity as Peter the disciple of Christ, the topic never came up. He never said he was, so I cannot tell you he was, and nothing like that mattered at the time anyway, though within me, I do know him to be that brother and your brother. But I would have been equally glad for the lift, no matter the name he gave.

James Francis