Your True Tales
June 2006 – Page 16

The Gentle Ghost
by Daniel

My father was a minister in a small church in Louisville, Kentucky where I was brought up. In our small "church family" was a kind elderly man whom we called Brother Seely. I remember how good and loving this man was, and what a positive influence he was on me as I was growing up. When I was 16 years old, Brother Seely was diagnosed with cancer and only given a short time to live.

I went with my father to visit this old man who sat in his recliner while he and dad talked about the faith that Brother Seely had that God was going to see him through this illness, and his impending death. I remember him holding onto my hand as I sat beside him while he and dad talked. Just a few days later he was gone.

Shortly after his funeral, while I was still hurting with grief and struggling with the loss of this good friend, I was walking through a school yard in our neighborhood when I glanced over at the swing set in the playground. There on one of the swings sat Brother Seely dressed in a black suit wearing a red tie. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and thought to myself that I must be hallucinating. I rubbed my eyes and took a second look and he was still there with a gentle smile on his face. Not a sound came from him, just a smile that told me "everything is alright now." Then he just faded into nothing.

I went home and told my mother what I had just seen. She didn't believe me. But, to this day, 30 years later, I know there is more to life than what we could ever begin to understand because of what I experienced that day in the school yard. Yes, I believe in life after the death of this body. On another plane of existence. In a better place.

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