90 Minutes in Heaven_ A True Story of Death & Life - Don Piper [57]
Afterward a large number of students waited around to ask questions. Among them was an African-American student named Walter Foster. He asked many questions himself and stayed and listened to the other students’ questions as well. When I left the auditorium, Walter followed me. Although I didn’t mind, I felt as if he pursued me with dogged determination—as if he couldn’t get enough details about heaven or hear enough about my experience.
A few months later, Nicole called me. “Do you remember Walter Foster?” Her voice broke and she started to cry. As soon as I said I remembered him, she said, “He . . . he died. He suffered a heart attack! Just like that—and he was gone.”
Apparently Walter had known about his serious heart condition and was under medical care; everyone assumed he was doing all right. Obviously his death shocked all the students who knew him.
“Twenty-year-old students aren’t supposed to die,” one of his friends had said.
After I hung up the phone, I thought back to the day when Walter and I met. I wondered if he had had a premonition about his death. The fact that he followed me the whole time I was at LSU and plied me with endless questions about heaven caused me to wonder. His questions seemed more than just curiosity. Maybe, I thought, even then God was preparing him for his homeward journey.
His sudden death devastated his friends, especially those involved with the Baptist Collegiate Ministry. They were a close-knit group and mourned the loss of their dear member. The night following his death, they gathered at the BCM building—the place Walter loved most.
During an emotional meeting that night, a number of his friends spoke at length about how much it had meant to Walter that I had shared my experience about heaven. Many mentioned the excitement he expressed to them over what he had heard. He talked about it for days afterward.
“Several times during the day when Reverend Piper was here,” one of them said, “Walter told me, ‘One day I know I’m going to be in heaven myself!’”
Pressing church business kept me from being at Walter’s memorial service at First Baptist Church of Baton Rouge. Nicole represented our family and reported that evening about the celebration of W alter’s life. Two special requests from his friends were that the preacher would share the gospel message and that someone would sing one particular song. Of course, it was “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” The audience learned the special significance that hymn held for Walter.
Nicole, a music major at LSU and an excellent soloist, sang the song to the assembled mourners. They responded with both great sadness and glorious hope. Tears flowed and many smiled peacefully.
After the service, many students lingered to talk about how much Walter’s unwavering belief in heaven had comforted and encouraged them.
One of the other bright things to emerge from my testimony at the BCM and Walter’s later passing was the construction and dedication of a prayer garden at the LSU BCM. That seems appropriate to me, because each time I share my story, I stress the paramount importance of prayer. After all, I’m still alive because of answered prayer.
Like many others whose lives have divinely intersected with mine since my accident and my return from heaven, Walter represents those who will be waiting for me the next time God calls me home.
Sue Fayle’s first husband died of cancer. His long torturous passing took a lot out of her. She assumed she would live the rest of her life as a widow. But her neighbor Charles, also without a spouse, changed that. They were not only neighbors, but in their common sense of loss, they became good friends. As time passed, they seemed to fulfill needs for each other in a way that only those who have loved and lost seem to understand. Their friendship evolved into love, and they cautiously considered marriage.
Sue had serious reservations about marrying Charles