Life After Death: Amazing Story


Our relationships are increasingly becoming gadgetized. Controlling. Immediate. Demanding. Self-serving. Empty.




At the heart we're yearning for more. We intuit there has to be more than what we can perceive with our five senses. In short, we are a generation in search of God.

In 2008 we posted a true "life after death" story on YouTube.  If you Google "Life After Death" you'll get nearly 3.5 million returns, and at the top of that list you'll find this video.

Over the years the particular video page has become a platform of great conversation, participated by just about every conceivable point of view. As of this writing we're coming up on nearly 150,000 unique viewers.

The short doesn't begin to capture the full power of this amazing, true story of a woman who died and lived to tell about it.  Now, three years later, we're posting the full, 20 minute version... beautifully scored by our partners, The O'Neill Brothers (music on NBC, CBS, ABC, HBO, PBS, etc.).

Much like the Gospel, we're presented with a truth that defies scientific demonstrability.  Cameras and photographs can not capture the other side.  But let's not forget, it's negation is equally beyond the realm of science. Tami's testimony-- corroborated by hundreds more like it -- impels us to open a door of faith, to consider that we are not just flesh and blood, but uniquely spiritual. We are invited to see beyond the range of human vision.

A final note. Toward the end of the film Tami suggests that we need not worry about things down here on earth, because she "knows where we're all going."  For those concerned with Gospel minimalization, please note that in context she is speaking with expectant faith (Hebrews 11) of those who embrace Jesus Christ, who recognize that as He is "the way, the truth and the life" (Jn. 14:6), that our eternal salvation with Him is only found in giving our lives to Him.

Please consider supporting our faith and family endeavors here at ImageTrinity.com with your prayers and financial support. Thank you.
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"Awake O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light" (Ephesians 5:14)

We are a generation seeking God for real. Join us for M2W. It's not for those who have it, but for those who recognize they don't. God is here. Come expecting great things. 

Is God Culturally Relevant? (The Gospel According to Mick Jagger)


It's a question worth asking. Most people aren't unwilling to believe, they simply have a measuring stick. They rightly ask: If faith has nothing to do with real, lived, human fulfillment, why bother? And quite often the answers we offer them amount to, "It just is."

Perhaps many of us even struggle with this question.


So let's ask: Did Jesus not become flesh and blood? Does this not have real implications in the real world?

Perhaps many of us really lack the faith to expect that God engages us in this world.  If so, it would seem faith really is an "opium of the people" (Marx),  "excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet" (Napoleon), "founded upon fables and mythologies" (Jefferson).

Most intuitively know there's got to be more to God than external observance. There's got to be more than fleeting emotions. The truth of Jesus Christ has to find validation in lived, human experience.

A wake-up call to those who rely on the sufficiency of religious knowledge, tradition and practice: Jesus found more faith among the "pagans" ... surpassing that of the religious classes.   He wasn't interested in cruise-control believers whose sufficiency was fortified by their high opinions of themselves ("The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself, 'O God! I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity...'" Luke 18:11).  This was self-deception.

Jesus held up the children.  He wants us to be fully alive in the simple acceptance of His real, saving presence and love. The seeds of real faith live in the hearts of those who believe enough not to settle, for those who hold high the standard of a relevant faith, a faith validated in lived, human experience.

For those with eyes to see and ears to hear, ask this question: Which commandment, which truth, which "law" has Christ revealed, the breaking of which has not left the breaker more broken? Think of decisions regarding sex, drugs and alcohol, greed, violence....

To those of you who aspire to this high standard, who will not settle for less than a relevant God who became one of us, I invite you to recognize the truth proclaimed not by evangelists, but within our popular culture and experience. As merely one representative example, consider the Gospel According to Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones):

Shattered, shattered
Love and hope and sex and dreams
Are still surviving on the street
Look at me, I'm in tatters!
I'm a shattered
Shattered

Laughter, joy, and loneliness and sex and sex and sex and sex
Look at me, I'm in tatters
I'm a shattered
Shattered

Work and work for love and sex
Ain't you hungry for success, success, success, success
Does it matter? (Shattered) Does it matter?
I'm shattered.
Shattered

Pride and joy and greed and sex
That's what makes our town the best
Pride and joy and dirty dreams and still surviving on the street
And look at me, I'm in tatters, yeah
I've been battered, what does it matter
Does it matter, uh-huh
Does it matter, uh-huh, I'm a shattered

Don't you know the crime rate is going up, up, up, up, up
To live in this town you must be tough, tough, tough, tough, tough!
You got rats on the west side
Bed bugs uptown
What a mess this town's in tatters I've been shattered
My brain's been battered, splattered all over Manhattan

Shattered/ Rolling Stones
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Two things should be instructive here. First, it's abundantly clear that shattered is not a good thing. Who wants to be shattered? Illicit sex, greed, pride... these cultural icons are giving bold testimony that certain decisions and values lead to being shattered: "I'm in tatters."  Isn't it a bit more than interesting that this scheme of things exactly corresponds to revelation in Christ?  Hardly some external law with no implications for lived existence, but a testimony that what Christ revealed corresponds to our very design. Again, we can't really break the "law," only ourselves against the "law."

Secondly, assuming one doesn't want to be shattered, we are instructed to pursue the opposite of shattered. The opposite of shattered is "whole"- the root word "holy."

In short order, there we have it - the relevance of Christian faith powerfully proclaimed from the very epicenter of secular culture. For those with eyes to see, recognize here the truth revealed by Jesus Christ corresponds to the design of our nature, and offers the prospect for a full, human fulfillment. "See, I set before you life and prosperity, death and destruction..." (Dt. 30:15).

"Awake O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light" (Ephesians 5:14)

We are a generation seeking God for real. Join us for M2W. It's not for those who have it, but for those who recognize they don't. God is here. Come expecting great things. 

CALLING ALL FAMILIES!

Your prayers and financial support will enable us to fulfill our big mission of helping families discover and live their identity: Image Trinity. If WE become IT (Image Trinity) they will come!

THE BIG PICTURE
: In our capacity to love we Image the Trinity. Families are uniquely called to reveal God who is Love to the world. What's IT all about? Image Trinity.

IT is our identity. IT is our calling. IT is our mission.

Read this article/interview featured by ZENIT.

IN BRIEF: Image Trinity is a growing movement of families who seek to more fully discover and live this adventure (in partnership with parish and church communities). At the heart we invite you to recommit your family to prayer.  Please also consider partnering with us financially- in whatever amount you are able.

EVENTS: We hope to conduct many events that give individuals and families a dynamic, real, living encounter with Jesus Christ. Our monthly, epicenter event is Made2Worship (M2W).  Please go here to read and have a small experience of M2W.  This will lead into Presence for Christmas (P4C), a four-week journey into the heart of Christmas. These will awaken us all to the realization that Jesus Christ is the ultimate present.  Each evening consists of inspiring song, story and prayer - culminating in Adoration at the "Burning Bush" - Jesus Christ illuminated by our candles. These events are integrated with downloadable family prayer guides; we encourage families to pray every night with their candle lit, even if only for five minutes.  With your support, in November our partnerships with CatholicTV, CatholicExchange.com and CatholicLane.com will extend this throughout diocese, nation and the planet.   Your gift of any amount will help us unite families in this powerful way. 

MULTIMEDIA:
Living IT! is an inspiring television series to air nationally that will uniquely showcase faith-filled families "living IT" (Image Trinity). Please go here to read more about this exciting endeavor and about the Michael Hennessey Family/ Ironman for Kids, slated to be our pilot program. We need 30 "Executive Producer Families" who can each contribute $1000 to enable us to produce the pilot.

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ESOURCES: Integrated with our multimedia programming and events, we want to provide a number of resources to promote, encourage and support individuals and families in our common identity and mission. As an example, see this article recently featured on Catholic Exchange: "Chernobyl Diaper and Parental Joy." Your gift of any amount will help us more fully discover and live their identity and mission.

WEB: This current web is quite provisional. We're in need of a robust web that enables us to more dynamically evangelize and connect families to the movement. Your gift of any amount will help us build this platform.

IMAGE TRINITY RETREAT CENTER:
Our ultimate vision includes building "Trinity Family Retreat Centers"- locations of prayer and renewal for families, and a center of operation so to speak.  Your gift of any amount will help us build it (If we become IT, they will come).


ROCK YOUR MISSION! (RYM!) Is an expansive, dynamic cultural outreach committed to uniting parents, students, teachers and community in the proposition: "Your life has a purpose. You have a mission.  Live it out loud."  This will be accomplished through "high-octane" events, multi-media, web and resources integrated in an overall program.

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For more information, please contact us: Greg@ImageTrinity.com or 814/ 864-5755.