"Life Everlasting" by Duane S. Crowther

 This book is outstanding for the following reasons:

• The inclusion and reference to approximately 200 Near Death Experiences (NDE).  
• The efficient topical organization, ie - "The Amazing Capabilities of Spirit World Beings".
•  The excellent summary, analysis, and combination of NDE, scriptures and statements from Church Leaders.

While I found the entire book to be fascinating and informative, it was the last chapter regarding Exaltation that provided such a powerful epiphany for me.  From previous NDE readings I was already aware that righteous individuals are very engaged and busy in the spirit world.  Often those who have a NDE report that family members in the spirit world are delayed or in a hurry when they meet.  This initially was surprising to me because somehow I expected paradise would be a place of serenity and rest.

Crowther's chapter on "Exaltation", however has really altered my view regarding Eternal Life and the importance and absolute necessity of making the best use of our time, both on earth and in the spirit world.  Somehow it had never registered with me what it means to receive "all that the Father has".  For that to occur an individual must be perfect; knowing all things.  I fully expect that compared with mortality, we will learn a hundred times faster in the spirit world.  But even with an incredible increase in the speed of learning, it will take a very long time and remarkable dedication to learn all the Father knows; which is essentially everything.

Somehow my words are weak in conveying this concept, but reading this book, and particularly the last chapter, has forcibly impressed upon me the gargantuan magnitude of the responsibility before us if we are to receive all that the Father has.  We really do need to be "anxiously engage in a good cause, and do many things of our own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness" (D&C 58:27) if we are to have even a prayer or hope of obtaining Eternal Life.  I realize that it is impossible for us to comprehend the things of eternity with our rudimentary mortal minds, but Crowther has at least pulled back the curtains so I am more aware of the immensity and the grandeur of these concepts.