You would expect most young men of 19 to be fit and healthy, and most of them are. But accidents can happen so quickly, which can sometimes be life-threatening. This is David Pain's story.

I had always enjoyed good health, and a happy life. My home life was happy. My mother originally came from Greece, and was a real character. She used to send me along to Sunday school each week, and there has never been a time when I didn't believe in God.

By the time I was 17 I had got a job working for a friend in a bakery in London. The work was going well. In fact, we had more work than we could handle, and I was detailed to help on this rush job that had to be completed by the morning. So, even though I had worked a full shift that day, I then started to work again throughout the night.

About 1 o'clock in the dead of night, there was an accident, and part of the machinery that I was helping to dismantle fell down, and became trapped on my shoulder. I was young and healthy, and needed to get on with the job in hand, so I ignored what had happened, placed a dressing over the wound, and forgot all about it.

About six months later I was working in Oxford doing some painting work. I needed to keep working. So when I began to realise that my left shoulder was starting to feel uncomfortable, I ignored it, and hoped that the increasing discomfort would ease off. But that was not the way things turned out. In fact, by the end of the day the whole of my arm was swollen, as well as one side of my face.

When I got up the next day the swelling was still there. I began to feel a little concerned, so I decided to get it checked out at one of the hospitals in Oxford. A friend had come to visit, so we walked to one of the hospitals, again going through the beautiful university parks.

When we got to the hospital we headed for the 'Accident and Emergency' department. As we were stood in the queue waiting to give my name and why I was there, I noticed one of the nurses looking at me in a strange way. Then the nurse went away and re-appeared with a stretcher, and suggested that I got on to it, even before I had even been examined. Rather taken aback, I did what I was told, and was wheeled into the 'Accident and Emergency' department.

Doctors were called, and started to examine me. My friend and I kept giving each other quizzical glances. We had no idea what was going on, or why I was the centre of so much interest. Then I heard one of the doctors speaking to someone on the phone, saying, "This is an emergency. It looks like a thrombosis." I lay there thinking, "That sounds bad. I wonder who they are talking about". I did not realising that they were actually talking about me! My friend had heard what the doctor had said, and he leaned over to me and said, "I think they're talking about you."

Things happened very quickly after that, and they started to run a whole series of tests, including putting a dye into my bloodstream. This confirmed their suspicions. They were dealing with a major thrombosis. But something else had happened to me. I was suddenly aware that although my friend was still with me, another presence was with me as well. I find it difficult to explain, but I know from that point on, all the stress and worry of the situation just disappeared, and I felt totally calm and at peace, in the midst of this activity around me. It was as sudden as somebody turning a light on.

The next thing that I knew, I was experiencing an acceleration of my spirit. I had no idea what was happening to me, but then I stopped quite suddenly - it was as if someone had put the brakes on when I was travelling at 50 miles an hour. My journey had taken me from my bed, into a place that was absolutely huge. I mean, it was colossal. And the brightness was remarkable. It was brighter than the sunniest day that you could ever wish for. I realised that three people were standing in front of me. One of them, the one in the middle of the group, started to speak. It wasn't an audible voice though, but one I could hear nevertheless through my spirit. What was distinctive about this voice was its authority. I knew it would not have been right to argue with what it was saying.

What I heard the voice say was, "It is not yet your time. You will have to go back." When I came round, the doctors couldn't get over the fact that I was so calm, and not at all stressed by the things that I had experienced. For a while it was touch and go whether I would survive, which was a shock to both me and to my family, especially as I had never suffered any real health problems.

Looking back, I feel that had it have been my time to die at that point, the acceleration that I experienced which took me into that room would have continued, and I would have ended up in Heaven. But as it was, because it wasn't God's plan for me to die at that point, the three that I encountered - and I have to be honest and say that I have no idea who they were - were there to stop me going any further.

I didn't have to stay in hospital for long. Once the various drugs were administered to thin the blood, the immediate danger passed. But my attitude to dying has changed. I have no worries about that. In fact people remark on my upbeat attitude towards life in general. I think that it's because I have experienced what it is like to die, and I know that there is nothing to fear if we have a relationship with the Lord.

The true story of David Pain is included, with kind permission, in the free e-book BEYOND THE FINAL FRONTIER which includes 27 similar true stories, and may be freely read and downloaded from this web site