Riding with Ghosts, Angels, and the Spirits of the Dead

When I was a young man I smoked.  I loved it.  I loved everything about striking a match and lighting my cigarette, or pipe, or cigar.  I loved the aroma of the burning tobacco.  I loved the flavor of the smoke as it rushed across my tongue on its way into my lungs.  I had asthma since I was a kid, and the tobacco smoke acted as a narcotic on my inflamed lungs and helped to numb their pain.  That’s what my doctor told me after I had stopped smoking in my twenties.  After I stopped smoking my lungs hurt and the doctor told me that the tobacco smoke had literally acted as a narcotic to soothe my aching lungs, but that in time the pain would lessen or go away entirely.  Mostly, it did. But anyway, before I stopped smoking, I would wake up in the middle of the night and crave a cigarette.  I would get out of bed, turn my radio on low volume, light up a smoke, and enjoy it while I sat in the dark and listened to music.   One Christmas morning in the early a.m. (it couldn’t have been muc

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving! Regardless of how the election turns out we must continue to pray for our country and for each other.  We must continue to work on developing spiritual enlightenment for ourselves and for others.  It’s up to us to work to resolve the issues that face us individually and collectively. It’s been a rough year for so many of us.  And yet in the darkest times it seems that we have been able to find at least a little light. Let us keep focused on the good.  Let us stay positive, with an optimistic, happy outlook.  Fling your optimism in the face of worry, fear, and dread!  Make the determination that regardless of the naysayers, the gloom and doom mongers, and the pundits of all stripes that you will personally endeavor to make the rest of this year, and 2021, to be one of the best times of your life! Yes, we will continue to face obstacles and difficulties.  In the best of times there are always problems to overcome.  That’s the nature of the beast

     When I was a young man I became aware of an intriguing book titled Phone Calls From The Dead,  co-authored by D. Scott Rogo and Raymond Bayless.      The stories in the book featured people who claimed to have received phone calls from deceased friends and loved ones!  The anecdotal evidence for these experiences is overwhelming.  Imagine your shock if you were to answer your ringing phone and hear your deceased aunt's voice call you by your name and tell you that she's okay.      The book is out of print, but still available if you hunt around online.  (The asking prices go from the reasonable to the outrageous.)     Now, I've never personally experienced a phone call from  someone deceased...but I do believe I received an incoming text/incoming call notification from a deceased buddy of mine!     That experience was wild enough, but then I have a story to share with you about the time that I  placed an outgoing phone call...to a ghost!     Both of those stories are a

       When I was a kid my parents introduced me to our local library.  And imagine:  my very own library card!  A piece of cardboard with a metal tag attached and my name on it...a card that opened the magical door to a world of knowledge and adventure.  I became a voracious reader, a pleasurable attribute that has been mine to enjoy into my 66th year of life on this old planet.     I grew up in that library, becoming a young man, and when the library changed locations I moved right along with it, now bringing my young daughter to the library on weekends, a family outing that became a tradition.     As I continued to mature the library remained a focal point for me and my daughter.  Chess Club for me on Thursday nights, and with my daughter on Saturday mornings.  And always more books to read and enjoy.     As time went by the library made computers available to patrons, introducing me to the World Wide Web.  As that library card had opened up a magical door for me when I was a child,