Daniel Keeran wrote about attending a Christian gathering and reflecting on experiencing God's presence. He also discussed his family circumstances, with one son committing suicide and the other adopting Pentecostalism, while his wife thinks he has dementia. Keeran hopes to encourage others with his account and remain mentally active by writing. He details how he prayed for understanding of his son's suicide and God provided an answer by enabling them to find a recording of his psychotic episode on a voice recorder. Keeran also recounts getting lost in a town in Italy but praying for help and then receiving signs directing him to his destination, showing God's compassion and existence.

1. My Amazing Life
CHAPTER ONE

2. My Amazing Life
CHAPTER ONE
by Daniel Keeran, MSW
I went to a gathering of self-identified Christians today. Can one identify
themselves as a different gender? I guess in the end, that’s all any Christian is:
self-identified, and we hope for the time when we will hear Jesus declare that he
knows us. Sometimes my mind wanders to something humorous to me, and I
laugh.
My thoughts during the service turned to how I experience God’s presence. I
thought that It is about talking to myself about the pervasive presence of God,
and the fact everything is from God and that God is fully and personally present
right here and right now. It’s a kind of a way of waking myself up to God. I have
been asleep for too long.
I saved and invested all my life to pass on wealth to my children who I hoped
would carry on my own Christian faith. One child killed himself, and the other
adopted pentecostalism as has my wife. My wife and doctor think I have the
disease of fronto-lobo dementia, although brain scans show nothing.
A nurse came to our home, did some tests, and seemed incompetent, and it was
her report that concluded the diagnosis. My wife has also removed a large cash
amount from our joint bank account. I have told her she can have any money she
wants. Ah, the plight of the elderly rich.
If my death is imminent, I want to know about it and be prepared. What can I do
about it? So I decided to write this as a way of remaining mentally active and
thus extend my life and as a way of passing knowledge to the reader. Yesterday I
ordered some Omega-3 Krill oil, to hopefully extend my life. When I die, hopefully
you will be among the very first to know.
I attend the above group in order to be near my amazing grand children, two girls
ages 3 and 1.
A reason for my life is to serve the purpose of God. I discovered not long ago that
God grants a prayer request if it is requested to serve His purpose and bring Him
glory which happens whenever we pray in Jesus’ name. This happened when I
prayed to understand why my son took his own life and another time when I was
lost in a town in northern Italy. God showed up in amazing ways.
My hope is that this account will encourage others in their tragedies and their
faith.

3. Our son turned 23 years old on January 28, 2005 and was showing signs of
mental illness: thinking people on TV were talking to him or about him, staying
awake all night, speaking unrelated thoughts. At about 6 a.m. on a Thursday,
February 10, two constables knocked on our door and said our son was dead.
His car was found near the railroad tracks where he had laid his head on the
tracks as a train approached.
I immediately thought he had been murdered or had a psychotic episode. After
two months of grieving, I prayed to God and said, “God, help us understand what
happened, in Jesus’ name.” The next morning, my wife and I were coming from
the bank, and after placing the bank deposit book in the glove compartment, we
heard his voice coming from the glove compartment. I had placed his voice
recorder there when we cleared out his apartment because we could not make it
work.
The recorder had a 20-30 minute recording of what seemed to be a psychotic
episode in which he laughed softly throughout. This was the answer to my prayer
and proof of God’s existence and compassion. We knew then that our son had
committed suicide because of a psychotic episode probably due to
schizophrenia. We had an appointment to see a doctor on the next Tuesday, and
our son was going to move into an apartment we had purchased.
The train did not go to Montorfano but to a nearby town on the other side of a
mountain. I became lost in the town and walked past a house where a woman
was attending her dog but she did not even glance in my direction. Now knowing
I was lost in the town, I prayed, “Lord I could use your help about now.”
I opened my eyes and saw a sign that said “Montorfano” with an arrow pointing in
the direction I needed to go.
The road ended in a back yard, but believing God had answered, I saw a stone
path leading out of the yard.
So I walked down the path and finally reached the very village of Montorfano.
It began to rain and I found the baptistery locked. So I went to a house next door,
and the person who came to the door said to go to the yellow house with a large
black dog. I went there, but no one was home. So still praying and believing, I
went to a stone house next door and asked if there was a key to the baptistery. A
woman went to some shelves and returned with a key. She then went to the door
of the baptistery and unlocked it.
I went in and saw the baptismal basin where I took photos and measurements.
When I returned on the train to Rome, I felt surrounded and overwhelmed by His
glory. This is one of many instances of God’s presence when we were visiting in
Italy.