May 22, 2013 - Reported in [Spirit Daily.com] from [here]. Houston, Texas - Some people don’t believe in near-death experiences, but dozens of books have been written on the subject and thousands of people say they’ve visited the “other side.” In 2009, Scott Corran was cycling with friends in Memorial Park, when he suddenly felt nauseous. “I knew something was wrong, and I left my friends in search of a restroom,” he said. “Turned up into the park and about a quarter mile from the tennis center, my heart stopped, and I hit the street and was dead.”

Dead at age 44.  But what happened over the next 24 hours was miraculous. Scott was resuscitated several times by paramedics and doctors, and ultimately came back from the dead. It was in the middle of that crisis that Scott said he had what thousands describe as a near-death experience, or NDE. “What that was is really a period of leaving my body and returning,” Corran said. During his out-of-body experience, he said he remembers a meeting with his dad in a Houston Playground. 

“My dad joined me at the playground, and we sat and talked about my daughter. My dad had died five years ago,” he said. “I think it was my dad, came to comfort me and to help me understand, that I was to come back.” There is an ongoing debate over whether near-death episodes are a sign from God, or merely hallucinations. The Rev. John Price, a long-time Episcopal priest in Houston, said he believes each episode is a revelation. “People generally have doubts, puzzled over whether these things are real, whether there is a God, or life after death, well this settles it for them,” he said.

The reverend has never had his own near-death moment, but in a period of 30 years he interviewed 232 people who did. He wrote about it in his [book] “Revealing Heaven, the Christian Case for Near Death Experiences.” “In essence an NDE is a preview of the afterlife?” KHOU 11 News Anchor Len Cannon asked Price. “Right, I agree,” he said. “And you use that to minister to people to say what?” Cannon asked. “It’s wonderful,” he said. Corron agreed.  “I received a sign, and the sign is there is life beyond here,” he said. What happened to him in Memorial Park led to a spiritual awakening. “Dying and coming back brings you closer to God, but more than anything, it brings you closer to man,” Corron said.