The Football Coincidence Story

Jack Charlton playing for Leeds and Bobby Charlton for Manchester United

A coincidence story today from Edward Gill. It shows how things sometimes link up with the past, but without any real meaning - or maybe there is!

"I was with my adult son in a Sports Direct shop in my local town. We were looking for an England football shirt for my grandson Bobby as a birthday present.

As we looked around a man, about my son's age, came up to us and said, "Remember me?"

We realised it was a childhood friend of my son called Alan. He moved away with his parents when a teenager and was visiting the area. Quite a coincidence as we hadn't seen him for many years. We got talking about the 'old days'.

He asked me if I remembered when I used to play football with him and my son and pretended they were Bobby and Jack Charlton, two famous brothers who were England soccer players.

I did remember and my son told him how his son (my grandson) was called Bobby. "Fancy that," he said, "I didn't have a son but my eldest daughter is called Jacqueline. She's always called Jack by us and her friends and she's getting married soon to a bloke whose surname is Charlton!"

It was odd how this all linked up together but there was one more twist. Alan said, "And do you realise today is Bobby Charlton's birthday, 11th of October."

~ Edward Gill

Other Coincidence and Synchronicity Stories:
The Red Balloon Coincidence
67 Not Out Readers Coincidence Stories - 10
A Proud Dad Thanks To A Coincidence

Love Dissolves Any Barriers

"Love is like the warm sun that shines on the ice; it melts and dissolves any barriers, any areas of pain. Like the ice, your fears turn to water and evaporate."
~ Orin

Fossils As Reminders Of Previous Lives

It's strange how articles come into your life but you don't know how - or is that just with me?

I was thinking about two fossils I have. The one in the photo above, for example, I've known since I was about 13 or 14 years old. It never belonged to my parents or any other relation and was never given to me. It just became 'mine'.

A long time ago I used to say that I found the fossil in a field but, as a teenager, I was living in west London so this isn't really possible. It somehow simply appeared in my life from, I've no idea where.

I like to think I have a good memory otherwise. As a check I went through all of the other bits and pieces and souvenirs we have about the house and was able to recall from where they originated.

But it gets a little stranger with fossils as I don't know where the other one I have (photo below) came from either. It sort of appeared at about the time my son was born.

I've always felt that the two fossils - which were probably living organisms some 60 million years ago, or maybe more - are something to do with me. But no idea what.

 Can objects simply appear in our lives from completely unknown sources? Or is my imagination running away with me?

There is actually one more item I have that somehow appeared in my life as a teenager. It's an ivory carved cross with a rose at it's centre. I may write about this another time as I can see a link with the Rosicrucians, of which I was a member for a while. The organisation has always fascinated me from an early age.

Maybe that's the link ... perhaps things come into our lives as reminders of ... well, previous lives or experiences.

Other 67 Not Out Posts:
Magic Talisman Attracts Money
Reincarnation Changes Us For Better Or For Worse
Reincarnation Gave Couple A Second Chance

The Secret Path

I've been re-reading some of the old books on my shelves. This passage from The Secret Path by Dr Paul Brunton brought home something to me:

"Man walks along the dusty roads of life like that seeker of old time who spent years wandering through foreign lands in quest of rare treasure of which he had heard, whilst all the time he himself was being sought for as the heir to a great fortune. Wrapped in the folds of our own nature hides a rare jewel, though we know it not. None has yet set a price upon it, nor will any ever dare to do so, for its value is beyond all things of known worth."

Brunton is referring to our true self, for we are spiritual beings. We get sidetracked by the physical body and the material senses. To quote The Secret Path again:

"Heaven lies about us, not only during the innocent days of infancy, but every moment of existence, yet we know it not. A few are so close to the truth that they are unconsciously waiting for the miraculous moment of recognition."

As Walt Whitman wrote in his poem To You:

O I could sing such grandeurs and glories about you! You have not known what you are, you have slumber'd upon yourself all your life ...
The mockeries are not you, Underneath them and within them I see you lurk ...Whoever you are! claim your own.
Other Random 67 Not Out Posts:
Is There Life After Death?
We are the souls and spirits to help fashion and dwell in future realms
There Is No Teacher But Your Own Soul

Did This Doctor Visit Heaven?

Out of Body and Near Death Experiences are easily explained away by scientists. Surgeons often hear such tales and take them with a pinch of proverbial salt. The same goes for anyone who claims to have visited Heaven.

Such experiences are said to be caused by a malfunctioning cortex or maybe nerve cells being deprived of oxygen or even the brain causing hallucinations, because of some form of immense stress.

These sort of opinions would likely have been put forward by say, a neurosurgeon like Eben Alexander. But because of a personal experience Eben has now changed his mind and claims he has seen Heaven for himself and now believes in God and an afterlife.

Dr.Alexander contracted a rare form of bacterial meningitis whereby the area of his brain which controls emotion and thoughts - his entire cortex - actually shut down. He was in a coma for a week and doctors believed he wouldn't recover.

It was during this seven day period he claims to have visited Heaven.

Alexander explains: "According to current understanding of the brain and mind, there is absolutely no way that I could have experienced even a dim and limited consciousness during my time in the coma, much less the hyper-vivid and completely coherent odyssey I underwent."

So what was Heaven like?

His first memory is of  "roots" over his head and having no knowledge of his past life. Sights and sounds appeared to merge together and began spinning and clearing away the surrounding murkiness.

The next thing he was aware of was flying over a meadow. He couldn't speak and had no awareness of his body. He felt he was simply a "speck on a butterfly wing" along with millions of other butterflies in a swirling "river of life and colour".

Below him were waterfalls, pools and "indescribable colours", and above him were clouds that were "big, puffy, pink-white ones that showed up sharply against a deep blue-black sky".

Far above the clouds were flocks of "transparent, shimmering beings", making arcs of gold and silver across the sky. "Indescribably gorgeous" hymns and chants wafted down from these beings - "higher forms" of life which, as he gathered his thoughts later, he could only describe as "angels".

Travelling with him was what he took to be his guardian angel: a young woman with high cheekbones, deep-blue eyes and golden brown hair. She was wearing orange, indigo and powder blue clothing.

"Her thoughts were things like, 'You are loved. You are cherished for ever. There’s nothing you can do wrong'".

Together they moved on to "the core, an inky darkness that was also full to brimming with light." Here there was "a beautiful warm awareness of the divine which was clearly what we would call God".

After being in a coma for seven days Dr Alexander awoke. He is now back to being a doctor but spends part of his time investigating how "we are much more than our physical brains".

Obviously many will think Dr Alexander's story to be just that: a fantasy tale. To doubters he says that he has two points to make:

(1) Firstly, to his knowldege, no one else has made such claims while his or her cortex was shut down.

(2) His experience happened while his body was under intense medical observation every minute that he was in his coma.

So, is this proof that Heaven does exist and we have nothing to fear from death?

Dr Eben Alexander has written a book of his experience, which is available on Amazon:
Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife

Similar Heavenly Posts:
Where Is Heaven?
The Bird Angel Who Comforts As Someone Dies
Near Death Experience In The Stars

Suspended Animation Of Two Newts

Is the following, by Jonathan, an example of suspended animation - in this case of a newt?

Back in 1976, my family moved into an old house. In the garden was a very old rockery, made up of paving stones and old bricks. A neighbour told us it had been there for many years.

In 1986, I decided to get rid of the rockery and create a shrub border instead.

It was hard work, as the soil was heavy with clay and the day was hot.

I chipped away at the soil with a spade for quite a while. Then, to my horror, I realised that I had chopped a newt in half. The newt was perfectly preserved.

After that I dug much more carefully.  To my surprise, I found two more newts, which I managed to extricate from the soil without damaging them. They were stiff and cold but looked otherwise to be in perfect condition.

I laid the newts on the grass, in the sunshine, while I filled a washing up bowl; then left them in the water while I continued to work.

After about twenty minutes I took a look at them and, to my amazement, they were slowly swimming around in the water.

To my mind this was a phenomenon, as they had been entombed in that hard soil for probably twenty years or more.

Was this an example of suspended animation?

Other animal posts:
Animals Have Feelings Too And Share Pain
The Woman Who Communicates With Animals
Evil Of The Devil And His Dando Dogs On Bodmin Moor

God Created Earth 6016 Years Ago

Click on images to make bigger

God created the Earth and the beginnings of mankind 6016 years ago. I can be precise because this is what my, very old, family Bible tells me.

As for Noah and the Ark, this all happened in 2349 BC, so that makes it 4361 years since the flood.

Okay, I personally don't see how this can be true but what got me thinking was a television programme I watched last night on creationism.

To quote Wikipedia: "Creationism is the religious belief that humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic God."

During the television programme a group of creationists, all Christian other than one Muslim, visited various experts, professors, and scientists who gave their 'proof' that the Earth is much older, and that mankind has developed because of evolution.

It was interesting that the creationists wouldn't budge from their beliefs, even when one professor wondered how Noah would have managed to get whales onto the ark. But actually I quite admire people who have such faith and have their beliefs sorted.

I read some of Genesis this morning from that old family Bible and one thing I'd forgotten was Genesis 1:26 "And God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness ..."

Does this mean there is more than one God? But, of course, there are many anomalies in the Bible.

I've also often naively wondered why God created man (and woman) in the first instance.

The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo Buonarroti

Other Religious Posts:
Was Jesus A Vegan
The Mystery Of Jesus Visiting Cornwall In England
The Holy Well Of St Sampson At Golant In Cornwall