Village Shepherd

I took a funeral last year where a close relative of the deceased came up to chat with me after the burial. He began to relate to me an experience he'd had, some years previously, where he himself had "died" in a serious motor-bike accident. He remembered hurtling down a tunnel at great speed, then emerging into a brilliant light at the gate of the most beautiful garden he'd ever seen. But someone at the gate had gently turned him back. Had said: "Not yet. It's not time for you yet. You have to return." And he'd woken to find himself in a hospital bed.