In 1908, lightning struck seventeen-year-old Jack Allred as he stood in a rainstorm, one hand on the rump of his mule, the other on his wagon rigging. He woke up six days later. Jack eventually told his grandson what happened. That grandson told me and gave me permission to share.

From twenty feet in the air, Jack observed his own lifeless body on the ground. The lightning had also knocked his two brothers unconscious and killed their mules.

Separated from his body, Jack felt each raindrop pass through him with a tingle, like static electricity through the tip of one’s finger after walking across a carpeted room. He felt it again and again.

From his elevated position, Jack saw his brothers revive. The last thing he witnessed before returning to his body was his brother kneeling in prayer over his physical remains.

I love the unusual sensations described by souls who have left their bodies: colors that don’t exist in this realm, travel at the speed of thought, communicating perfectly and instantaneously without words, and ineffable love.

I look forward to more fully experiencing that nonphysical realm and the limitless capacity of the soul.

(Photo: Photo by Vlad Chețan from Pexels.)