Book Review #2: 90 Minutes in Heaven

I just decided to attach the document I turned in for our Saturday assignment. Afterall, our assignment was to read and write a summary of what we read.

Assignment for Saturday, November 22nd
Before I begin with my summary I feel as though I need to preface my writing. I noticed on the website that you commented on the first book that I posted…The Shack, and I am afraid if I don’t give some explanation leading into this second book you may think of me as morbid. In the summer of July 2007, Lane, my youngest son, died very tragically in a drowning accident. Since then I have begun to look at life in a much different manner…I have been a Christian for many years and quite frankly, my faith is the only reason I am able to function daily. That being said, I know where my child is…he is no doubt in Heaven; however, reading books that deal with similar situations somehow offers me another sense of comfort.
The name of my second book is 90 Minutes in Heaven. I came upon this book in a round-about way. My Nana gave me a book by the same author after my son passed away, its title is Heaven is Real (also a good read!), and I began to read it one day, but it kept making references to this other book (90 Minutes in Heaven) so I decided to put down that book and buy 90 Minutes in Heaven. I purchased the book sometime ago, but never got around to reading it until lately. The author of the book tells of his personal experience. He is/was a pastor at a church in Texas. (This also intrigued me because I grew up in Southeast Texas, and the church he pastored was only about an hour from where I lived.) The pastor had been to a convention in Livingston, TX for Baptist ministers, and on the way home was in a fatal car accident. (Another interesting fact: I used to vacation in Livingston…we had a lake house there, so I traveled many times on the very road he had the accident.) He tells of his experience…he was driving down the road and the next thing he remembers was being at the gates of Heaven. He explains each of the people who were at the gates to greet him and welcome him there…they each played a pivotal role in his Christian life and they were exactly as he remembered them on earth, but without flaw. One thing that really spoke to me was the joy he felt…he didn’t think one time about the people he left behind or what he left behind…he only felt overwhelming joy and happiness to be in this special place. (This comforts me so much…I think for a long time I was scared to die because of what I was leaving behind, not because of where I thought I might end up. After Lane died I realized that I didn’t have any reason to be scared anymore because I know he will be waiting there to greet me too! I was also comforted to think that Lane wasn’t longing to be with us---as sad as it may seem to us here.) He also talks about the angels singing which is a wonderful thought. As he continues he tells about a preacher who came to pray for him at the accident. The firemen and paramedics had already pronounced him dead, but the preacher told them that God wanted him to pray with the victim, so they allowed him to go to his mangled car. He had to climb through the trunk just to get close enough to him to pray with him. He was “legally dead” for 90 minutes here on earth. He woke up singing along with the preacher in the car with him. They rushed him to the hospital where he was life-lighted to Houston Medical Center. He was in excruciating pain and was in and out of consciousness due to the pain. He underwent an experimental surgery to put his body back together. He was in a “coma state” for about two weeks…he finally woke up, still in pain. When he finally woke up he was angry because he couldn’t understand why God would send him back to earth to be an invalid (which was how he felt because he was completely immobile) and in extreme pain. He was also a very independent individual. He was used to doing for himself and taking care of everyone else. Now, he was the one that had to be cared for and he didn’t much care for it. The book walks you step by step through this journey. He also comes to a realization that God has purpose for his decisions and he sees this when he is able to help others because of his experience. I don’t want to give away the whole book, but it is a great read. I am not one of those people who read constantly…I just never seem to find the time. This book isn’t really long, so it could easily be read in a few hours, and it is more than worth it. I think this book would be great for anyone, not just those who have suffered great tragedies. I hope you find the time to add this book to your list of books to read!

Book Review #1: The Shack

I misunderstood the book review assignment...I thought we were just supposed to put that on the discussion board; therefore, I am just now posting to my blog. Anyhow, the book I read for the first review is called The Shack. I believe it is still on the NY Times bestseller's list. This is a really great book...a friend told me about this book and I decided to get it and read it myself. This book is classified as Christian Fiction; however, Mac, the man who's life the story is about truly believes the events in the book took place. Regardless, it is an interesting read. Mac begins his story talking about "The Great Saddness" in his life; he and his family suffered a great tragedy. After this tragedy, Mac enters a period in his life which he refers to as "The Great Saddness." Mac describes a very spiritual journey in which he finds healing for not only the tragedy his family has suffered, but also a troubled childhood relationship with his father. There are several twists and turns throughout this book; I found myself laughing and crying. I don't want to give away the whole book, but I would encourage anyone who has questions about faith, or who doesn' truly understand what faith is, to read this book. I hope you enjoy!

It's Me...AGAIN!

Well, as I stated before I'm not good at this, but I wanted to post a few more pics of my classes...my keyboarding kids really wanted to pose for me so I took a picture of them just being goofy!

My Class

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday...only three more weeks until Christmas and we will have made it through a semester of school! Well guys, unfortunately I am one of those last minute people with the blogging...so I am posting a few pics of my classes...the pictures are of my Keyboarding classes...hope you enjoy!

Almost There

Well, we've almost made it. I can't tell you how relieved I am the holidays are upon us. I feel exhausted; I have really been looking forward to this break for a while now. I am sorry I haven't posted lately, but my school has this site blocked and I find it hard to make time to sit down and do this at home once I've put in a full day at school, but I will try to do better. I have some pictures that I will try to post in the next couple of days of some of my students.

Diversity X 2

In this picture there are two of my students working side by side...the student on the right is a very auditory learner and he is also advanced...the student on the left is also an auditory learner; however, he is very low performing. By placing these two next to one another they are able to help each other. They both listen, but can be distracted by other things going on in the room. My advanced student is very good about helping to reiterate something I've said if my lower performing student misses something. This also allows him to assume a "teaching" position which gives him even more confidence about the material we are covering. We played a quiz game today to review for our test that we are having tomorrow...when it came time for my low performing student's turn, he nonchalantly said, "I'm going to get it wrong, I don't know anything." I was so proud when he was able to not only answer his question correctly, but explain it! (Just thought I would add in that last little note.)

Diversity in my classroom

Diversity is a very broad term, so I feel as though the definition of our diverse learners fits a very wide scope of students. In this picture you will see one of my students working independently on a spreadsheet. This particular student is one of our ALE students...it would be easy to assume he fit the reputation that comes with that title; however, in my classroom things are different. If I keep him alone and at his own computer station, close to me, he works very well. He has trouble staying focused if other students are too close by; he tends to have behavioral problems with other students. He is what I consider one of my diverse learners; with just a few adjustments he is able to work successfully in class.