Everybody Knows They Are Going to Die
They Just Don’t Believe It
by
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I read M. Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled years ago. The first words of the book are “Life is difficult.” I had picked up the book because I was looking for answers about life and ways I hoped to make my life easier. I thought it would help me discover the meaning of life. I didn’t stumble on the meaning of life, but I did read an educated man’s opinion that confirmed my belief that life is indeed difficult.
I also read Peck’s People of the Lie, which posed the question, If you are evil, where is the best place for you to hide out? The church! This book changed my life. I thought that if I were the devil and wanted to keep people away from God, I would infiltrate the church.
It also confirmed my thoughts that we are in the same situation; to quote the over-used COVID-19 phrase, we’re all in this together. Peck’s book helped me understand that life’s truths have a way of setting us free and giving us peace. It helped me focus on anoth-er truth: we’re all going to die. It’s not a question of if but when. I thought about these questions when I was growing up and following a profound event that affected my life: Should I be good? What defines good? What difference does it make? Is there a God and a devil? Is it simply over after our last breath?
On the cover of this book is a photo of the lifeless body of a man lying on a bas-ketball court. That man is me. It was December 2016. As I played in a game in an over-forty league, I ran down court, grabbed the ball on a rebound, passed it to a teammate, and then with no pain, a thought flashed across my mind: Wow, I always thought there was going to be more. For three or four minutes as I lay on the court, my eyes rolled back, I turned blue, and my lips turned purple. But I experienced no pain. I was gone.
Miraculously, I slowly returned to the land of the living. I looked at the worried ex-pressions on the faces of my huddled teammates. I rose from the floor, and despite the concern of my friends, I drove myself to the nearest ER.
Two days later, physicians inserted a stent in my chest while I watched the proce-dure on a TV screen. I decided if I ever wrote a book, I’d title it Everyone Knows They’re Go-ing to Die—They Just Don’t Believe It.
After my life-changing incident, I thought more about what happens after we die. Where do we go? What do we do? How do we feel? I’ve asked people these questions many times. I received varied answers ranging from “Nothing,” to “Life is just over,” to “Heaven or hell.” It is amazing how people can be so casual or ignorant about something that will happen to us. In Mark 12:18–24 (NLT), Jesus said, “Your mistake is that you do not know the Scriptures.” Might be a good thing to know the scriptures. What do you think? You will take your last breath at some point.
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About the Book
What is the reason for this book? I never wanted to write one but I believe all through our lives we feel like we should do something but we never follow through and then we say to ourselves, gee I wish I did that, bought that, sold that, didn’t do that. So I followed through with what I felt I should do and it doesn’t matter about the end result. If you don’t take the first step, forget about the second. If you just read this I believe it will speak to you. The other reason I wrote this book is to get people to use the brain they were given and the use of wisdom and common sense. The definition of common sense is, “sound and prudent judgement based on a simple perception of the situation of facts,” or as my father would say, “use the brain God gave you.” Today it is so easy to find answers to questions that are just a click away. There is a story about Moses and the burning bush in the Bible. The story goes Moses saw the bush burning but it wasn’t being consumed so he took a step closer to see what was happening and when he did, he heard a voice, it was the direction for the second step. May this be the first step to your second, Wisdom and Common Sense.
About the Author
Tom Maguire was a builder and land developer for 45 years. He started volunteering in the Connecticut Prisons with a International Prison ministry 24 years ago.He has been involved in 40 weekend programs while finishing his studies to be ordained. He is also a Senior Ordained Chaplain for the last 13 years. Tom has seen many miracles happen with the men and has a calling for the brokenhearted. Tom has thousands of hours between training and actual time inside the prisons. This is conducted with a team of 30 individuals for 3 or 4 day weekends and weekly and monthly mentoring. Three day weekends are for the youth. He also is part of a T.V. program about the Torah. and Old Testament, pointing to a Saviour or Messiah and how the scriptures actually speak to this. Tom is married to his wife Lora for 33 years and has a son and a daughter. He and Lora have been on the elders board and part of a impact prayer team at church. Tom and Lora have been trained in inner healing and restoring the hearts of the fathers to the children. The photo on the cover is one of the reasons for the book. Tom dropped dead on the basketball court and was gone for about 4 minutes. just before falling he had a thought flash across his mind,”WOW I ALWAYS THOUGHT THERE WAS GOING TO BE MORE:.