Our original question had to do with ”How to pray so God  can answer prayer.” While I question my scientific method as being unprovable, I have taken the approach of the alternative or supplemental herbs,  that is, personal experience. If it worked for me and for several others I know, then it is reliable. Rest assured that it will not work in every case, nor is there a pattern guaranteed to bring results 100 per cent of the time.

In church study groups we have introduced the dodge. If you didn’t receive what you ordered, (prayed for), then there were several factors. You may have prayed for something that was not in God’s will. God had something better in mind for you concerning this event. Or, God said, “No.”

As I mentioned, I have a fairly firm picture of what the afterlife or other side will be like. It is personal, and may be quite different than yours, but every one of your images is valid. Many of you were aware of my heart spells several years ago. That Sunday morning, I had the feeling that something was different or “wrong”. I was as limp as a dishrag, and lay very quietly in a special cardiac ward. A doctor announced that I had suffered two heart attacks. One was healed and one had happened within the previous hour or two. I wasn’t sure if I would ever leave that unit in one piece.

In my image of the other side, I could see the two realms melting together. There was no difference between our world and the afterlife. I spoke with God as though He was a part of my then present situation. I did pray for healing. I didn’t dwell on that plea, as a child crying on a parent’s shoulder, but my image of angels attending my weaken body was reviewed and revitalized often.

The doctors soon were doing their procedures and medicines were soon taking effect. I was scheduled for the heart cath for the next morning.  I was later told that I had 99 and 94 per cent blockage in two of the major arteries. The doctor was amazed that I was still around.

The best was yet to come. I did get my new stints, and was in the hospital until I was stable (about three days). We were at a horse show in Tulsa OK. I had driven a semi-tractor with flatbed to the show, loading our minivan with the booth on the truck. Ann had some help loading the booth, and taking the truck over to storage. On Friday, the doctor gave me the go ahead to drive the truck and trailer back to Texas. It was a twelve hour trip. I spent another week in Tulsa before I headed out for home, but a week later, I was in the truck and going. Thank you, Lord.

I had never envisioned a life after a heart attack as “healthy”. It was so far from reality or possibility, that the old timers would have told me it was impossibility. I could be consigned to spend the rest of my life in fear and limitation. Again, God and I had a talk, and I saw the angels ministering to my body again. The annual tests have shown that I have no heart damage, wide open blood flow, and no limitation. My heart is as  good as one would expect for a person in their mid-seventies to be. I have never had any pain or discomfort. I believe that God answered prayer, and I tell you, as I lay on that cot in the ER, I never questioned whether God could answer prayer, nor did I have to have the theological discussion with God or a Chaplain what God was like, or what the Other Side was like, or if I prayed, or whether God could heal my body.

There may be some situations where God would allow us to limit his power. If I couldn’t follow doctor’s instructions or advice might be one. If he said, “Lie still” and I didn’t, or take these medications, and I refused, I might limit God ability to heal. If I had abused my body over the years with bad habits, or substances that injured my system, God might have simply let nature take it course. If my number was up, I couldn’t expect God to extend my worldly life indefinitely.

When I worked with the ambulances in my younger years, we had regular practices at our weekly and monthly meetings. We refreshed out skills, and how to react in certain situations. We drilled and drilled. It paid off. Our teams would go to the scene of the medical need and we were professional. We knew because we had practiced. Without sounding like a religious fanatic, let me share my philosophy: I have my image firmly in mind, and I review it often in meditation. I have my conversation with God and the angels. I don’t have a regular time, but I do it often. One of the conversations I heard when I was active as a pastor was, “I haven’t prayed for a long time, so do I have to have a confession?” Of course not, but if it would make you feel better, apologize for your absence and then get on with the business of asking for some help, or some healing. Studies have shown that people who pray or meditate with a firm vision of what other side is like, have a much better chance of healing quickly and sometimes miraculously. This is my blessing and prayer for you. Pastor Dave.     

My last sermon was entitled, “Where are you going?” I still think this thought is valid. As a matter of fact, I would make this the first requirement in your religious journey. This is an individual choice. My vision will be different than yours, because of my experiences, and interpretation of Scripture. There are at least two visions of what heaven is like. In one case we will be asleep until the end of time and the return of Jesus. Remember that Jesus was expected to return before the end of the month in this account. John has streets of gold and Jesus as a strong man with a white beard. There would be long lines of people waiting for judgment. Some will see their relatives, while walking in the pleasant rose garden, playing with butterflies and watching angels get their wings. Novels written over the years about this have not helped us solidify a good image either. Somehow, you must arrive at a concept which says, “This I believe.”

I suggest this at the beginning of your journey, because if you find yourself in the hospital, or along side the road in that life or death situation, there is no time to try to decide what God looks like, or where he lives. Ever time you pray, or you go to church, or you visualize your heavenly home, or construct a spiritual image, you have a framework to go back to. You have constructed your mental altar, so to speak. You might refine it to fit the Scriptural description many times, but prayer works better when you have a good solid base.

Somewhere between ancestor worship of the far eastern religions and American Indian happy hunting grounds is a Christian concept of the life hereafter. Since the fourth century, Christianity would like you to develop a judgmental style of religion. They would hold out a pattern of heaven and hell. Neither are mentioned in the Bible to any great extent. The rich man was in a place of perdition. Jesus remarks that there will be no giving or taking of marriage in heaven. Something is definitely missing in the vision of the afterlife as depicted in Scripture. Did they not know, or was someone trying to keep a theological concept from us?

I become a person outside the norm if I suggest that I am a first century Christian. What did the first century Christian believe that later belief systems changed? We have been taught in our earlier theological systems that the early Jews (Hebrews) did not believe in an afterlife. We said that they believed that the afterlife was in the life of their children and grandchildren. For them, it was curtains at the time of death. Recent documents have revealed a new aspect to their concept of an afterlife.

If you are developing a concept of the other side (life on earth for 60-100 years vs life eternal) you must chose between the early Church's vision or the fourth century's organized pattern of churchmanship. Even though we say we in the non-catholic tradition, we follow the teachings of Roman or Universal church that was developed in Italy in the fourth century. I'll explore more later, so until then, may God richly bless. Pastor Dave.

You would expect some serious stuff from a pastor, and since that's been my specialty for the past half century, maybe I have a tidbit to share. I have spent the past 19 years away from the parish, but in a sense, in a good place to develop my approach to faith.

Some of you were aware that I had some heart attacks some years ago, and had the surgery where they install stints. My blockage was severe enough to scare the willies out of me, or perhaps make me look death in the face and wonder if I wanted to go that route. Did I pray? You bet I did.

This brings me to a subject that has been raised by the medical community, as well as the other branches of religion, atheism being one. It is real easy to side with a group of believers that “spiritualize”,or write off the real results from being faithful. This then becomes a “take it or leave it” group of believers. Religion is for the “older ladies”, the communities of religionists who still believe in the old ways, professionals (nuns, priests, pastors, or rabbis), or something the bishops  expect their pastors to subscribe. As a person told me once, they were skeptical, but not a skeptic. The question is “Can prayer bring about healing (miraculous healing)?”

In 1994 there was a study in the Prevention magazine which broached this subject. Their conclusion was that it could if some steps were followed. One of the first was that the person had to attend a regular service, on a regular basis. I don't think the author was talking about attending the Christmas Eve service each year.

In my next several articles I want to approach this, as well as to approach ways to make religion more real, and a better part of your life. When the phase came back from the battlefields of World War II or was it WWI, saying, “There are no atheists in foxholes,” I would have to suggest that you have never faced a life or death situation, or you may not have realized it at the time. Lying in a cardiac unit like a wet dishrag, not knowing if the old ticker had given up the ghost, waiting, for the tests had not returned is one of those times. I didn't feel like I could move without doing more damage, yet I had no pain, or symptom. I think my Christianity is real without being fanatical. Next time we'll explore more. God bless - Pastor Dave

   I was pleased to find the facebook page of the Methodist church, Mineral Point. It has been 19 years since I lived with these people, so it was fun to see the news, and to remember some of the good times. So many of the people I knew have passed on, but many are still there. I have contact with a few, and there are some of the people from Linden on facebook. I have contacts in Pepin, and Crandon, WI which were the last places I lived. I would like to hear from some more as we go along. Find me on facebook under Dave Kellin.

You are from Crandon –

During my tenure at this outpost of the far North, several national events seeped into our corner of the world, Citizens Band Radio being one of them. Crandon is in a bowl, so to speak, with high hills to the West, which opened in to a rather wide valley. East Hill borders to the east, which opens into the hills and swamps covered with white birch and hardwood trees nearly to Armstrong Creek. The CB radio range would reach about 5 miles, but a little farther on flat terrain. (Cell phones didn't exist at the time.)

CB was developed for personal use only. It wasn't suited for business, because it's structure was completely "party line." There were 44 units or couples in our club. Many of these lived out of the city, some even in Argonne or Leona. The radios were just noisy chatter boxes without a network.

No one knew how Grandpa became homebase, but soon he became the "go to" station. He loved to talk, and he knew everyone in town. If you needed to reach someone, or get an answer to a question, a call to Grandpa would get the job done.

One of the big events each year was the Brush Run. This was a three day event with continuous races through 26 miles of logging roads and trails. These roads were pot-holed with rocks, mud, and sinkholes, with the starting and finishing lines at the fairgrounds. The CB club set up a network which established checkpoints.

The first heats were modified pickup trucks and heavier dune buggies. They blazed the trail, and cleared away some of the obstacles. The later dune buggies, modified Beatles (VW's), and motorcycles followed. There were some mud holes that were so deep that a car could get lost in the middle. I visited the Milwaukee loop one afternoon while some VW's were coming through. The mufflers and air intake filters were high on the roof. While these cars were coming through, all you could see was the roof. Each car was accounted for, and if one was missing, a large end loader was sent through the mud to find and rescue the vehicle.

The CB net also counted cars, (and bikes), to make sure none were missing. If some were, we went out looking for them.

For the most part, most of the traffic on the radio each day was one person blowing smoke with another. Even those who simply lurked on the frequency felt that they were a part of something bigger. In emergency situations, such as logging accidents, CB's were about the only way to call for help.

It just proves again that one person or family can find themselves out there alone against the world, but with a group there is much good to be done. One can choose whether that group is one which helps others, strengthening each member, or is a destructive group that preys on others to hurt them and themselves. Looking back, that CB club is one of the high points of my service in this far flung northern city. Thanks for the memory – more later – pastor Dave.