I struggled in my high school English classes that assigned book after book after... you guessed it, book. I wasnt interested in mythology, or even a man that looked like an elephant. Reading a book that is required of me, that I'm not interested in, is dreadful. The only books I've read apart from high school, as well as college, are based on true stories, things that actually happened. I've never been a book worm, and probably never will. My craving to read comes in spurts. When those spurts come, I read any chance I get. I'll keep the light on at night while my husband sleeps just to get those few extra pages in to satisfy craving to get me through the night.
I dont know what it is that magnetizes me to books based on true stories, more specifically, ones that involve Christians, and how they grew closer to God in their ordeal, but perhaps it's knowing that this person actually went through this. There's just something about the excitement of reading something that affected a person so deeply, in a life altering way, and how they over come that obstacle that just fills my reading tank. It's quite possible that I'm nosy, that I like to know what happened to people, and in great detail. Or it could be because it's inspiring. To know that someone has gotten through something so tragic, something I'm not sure I could make it out alive from, just fuels me to appreciate things better, not to take things forgranted. It pushes me to know that if I'm faced with a challenge, certainly none to the extent of which I've read in books, but that I have at least a shot of making it through, to seeing the next day.
The cover of the book I think about the most when I think about after-life, and how I know it's really there has kind of a dreary picture on the front. There's an ambulance clearly in a hurry to get to its destination, with a blurred scene, but not too blurred. It appears that it had rained or was raining, the roads are wet, but the sky has broke and there's blue sky, with a few pure white clouds to accompany it. There's not another car in site, the houses look dreary and sad, locked up, but the sky, the sky is beautiful. After reading the book I make a connection, one that may not be particulary seen by others or agreed with.
In the book a man is in a car accident, and dies, but only temporarily. While 'dead' he goes to heaven, but just for a little while, he experiences heaven and all that it offers. However, while he's in heaven, there's a minister in the line of traffic that is backed up from the accident, and begins to tell everyone to pray, pray that the man lives and that he'll be used to God's advantage. It works. The man returns to his body, and is no faced with an extremely hard road to recovery. The picture on the book says it all, for me. The beautiful, blue sky, displays that there are better things to look forward to, that after the rain, or hardships, comes something better than any earthly materialistic thing is waiting for us. It's blurred to represent that before we know it, death will present itself to us, and we will be going to either one of two places. The ambulance represents the long road to recovery that not only this man has, but also any situation the reader may be in.
The true stories I read in books leaves me on the edge of my seat, wanting more and "90 Minutes in Heaven" is one that sure enough, leaves me craving to read.
This works nicely as an introduction--the topic is so personal that it is very appropriate to start with your own personal reading history; it's very relevant to your reaction to the book (actually, as I think of it, this is one of those pieces that could work as either introduction or review because so much of it is personal reaction--that's a compliment, not a knock.)
ReplyDeleteSo, you move from your school experience to your general taste now to your faith to a detailed and loving description of the bookcover to a summary of the plot of the story related to the cover. You handle it all with grace and confidence throughout!