ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

1001 Mansions in Heaven, From a Different Kind of Writer

Updated on January 4, 2017
Patty Inglish, MS profile image

Ms. Inglish has been a professional writer and critic of films, books, music and theater for over 25 years.

Source

Inspirational Writing is Best

Inspirational writing is best in a troubled world such as ours.

The year 2016 left many inhabitants of Earth slack-jawed and glassy eyed, waiting for another surreal episode of The End of Days, the ultimate reality show.

Garrison Keillor regularly compiles volumes of what he calls "pretty good poetry" from effective authors. He finds that helps us digest what is happening in the world, with an eye to overcoming and coming through the other side. They help.

Another author and publisher, Mike Friedman, compiles volumes of stories about people achieving their final reward after long (or short and intense) journeys on Earth. They also help.

Everybody's Looking for Something

What are We Looking For?

People look for cosmic answers, money and fame, power, a legacy, God, or alien lifeforms. Everyday, someone is looking for something new. William Shatner says he has questions ready to ask God when he dies.

The Carriage Driver books may have some of those answers for Mr. Shatner and for us. Bill still feels that he will always be Leonard Nimoy's friend. Perhaps they will see each other again and Leonard will speak and offer an embrace.

I don't know why he (Leonard Nimoy) stopped talking to me...

— William Shatner, 2015

Bill Shatner's "You're Gonna Die"/You'll Have Time"

Telephone in Heaven: Can We Call Up Lost Loved Ones?

Those who go to Heaven ride on a pass and enter into blessings that they never earned, but all who go to hell pay their own way.

— John R. Rice

What is Heaven?

Not everyone believes in Heaven, so those who do believe often wonder what keeps the non-believer going in life. Believers sometimes wonder what is in Heaven, no matter how many times they read the descriptive passages in the Book of Revelation.

Still others take on the view provided in Robin Williams's What Things May Come. I'm still aghast at his recent death. His film depicted Heaven as the choice of each individual - interesting, since his Bicentennial Man examined what it means to live as a human being.

Mick Friedman's Carriage Driver book series brings us into the backgrounds and final hours of individual people who matter. They all matter and they all have a choice of afterlife destination.

We Have Questions

Where are we? Where will we be?
Where are we? Where will we be? | Source

At age five, I was taken to a funeral for the first time, without explanation. A woman lay in a box in a living room, unmoving and people were sad. I watched her being buried in the ground later and shuddered. After a few more such events without explanations, I suffered nightmares of being buried alive.

I had no church upbringing. I heard about God in first grade from my public school teacher as we prepared for the Christmas Pageant (those aren't allowed anymore). However, I always thought I'd seen an angel at age five. These few blessings were enough to get me through high school to the chance of attending churches and learning about life and death and afterlife.

Life, if properly viewed in any aspect, is great, but mainly great when viewed in its relation to the world to come.

— Albert Barnes

Carriage to the Beyond

In Carriage Driver2, we see dozens of people enter into an afterlife that is rewarding in a different way to each one of them.

We may hold to the Revelation description of Heaven and rely on God to get us their through our faith in His son Jesus of Nazareth, but we can still benefit from the stories of the carriage driver and his white horse as they deliver people there. Perhaps he delivers some into still another dimension of the universe.

No matter our belief or unbelief, these stories can prod us into thinking more about life, how to live it, and what comes beyond it. Fiction is sometimes a better teacher than accurate history and I hope that readers of all opinions will give these books and stories a try. Fiction writing can give us hope.

The Carriage Driver was a captain in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Source

The white carriage horse Nuelle was the captain's horse during battle. Sometimes she is the one with the information needed for a journey into the hereafter.

Source

Joy is the serious business of Heaven.

— C.S. Lewis

Favorite Stories

Those of us who have read and appreciated the second Carriage Driver book have chosen our favorite entries.

For me, "Naming Names" is a favorite, because it provides the back story for the carriage driver with his faithful horse and partner Nuelle. Both of them are war heroes.

Another favorite is "8mm Life." The story presents life as a movie playing on a screen, filled with visions of a desert, it caravans leading to a grand oasis filled with beauty. This story won the 2016 "Best Hub on LetterPile.com Award."

A perennial fan of aerospace projects and aeronautics, I love the story called "Fly Me to the Moon." It includes an old garage in which someone is building an airplane from a kit. Where will he fly in his next life? In the upcoming Carriage Driver3 is a story about astronaut Col./Senator John Glenn (1921 - 2016) called "Appointment with Annie." You will not want to miss that one, either.

The entry named "Forever '51" includes a yellow car from 1951, an important vehicle and year to someone who is ready to drive into the afterlife. The story is much like a happy episode of The Twilight Zone.

Many intriguing titles populate this short story anthology. You will likely find one to resonate with your soul.

What do you think about Heaven?

Is Heaven for real?

See results
Source

If you have questions about life and death and what the afterlife may be, read the Carriage Driver books and try some from the following list.

Books About the Afterlife

If you are willing to be convinced of the reality of Heaven, then select one of these books to read along with The Carriage Driver2:

  • Heaven is for Real, by Lynn Vincent and Todd Burpo. Also a movie, this true story is about a church whose members did not want to talk about Heaven, because they thought it a fairy tale. Then the pastor's young son dies and is revived, bringing back with him visions of the place. Then supernatural occurrences begin and the evidence is clear.
  • Waking Up in Heaven, by Alex Tresniowski and Crystal McVea. This is also a true story, of a woman with a history of abuse who was so ill that she died for nine minutes, but was revived. An unbeliever before she died, she came back believing.
  • Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife by Eben Alexander. This Harvard scientist had a near-death experience resulting from a severe brain infection (E. coli meningitis) and a week-long coma. He reports that he experienced consciousness after death, but no bright light at the end of a tunnel. He saw heavenly beings.

Source

© 2017 Patty Inglish MS

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)