Review: Preparing For Heaven by Gary Black, Jr.
Gary Black, Jr. spent significant time with an individual who has had a profound impact on my life and my own spiritual formation, Dallas Willard. In Preparing For Heaven: What Dallas Willard Taught Me About Living, Dying, And Eternal Life, Black honors Dr. Willard’s request for someone to bring to print his thoughts around death and the life to come. While this may seem a morbid subject to some, it is actually quite a hopeful book.
I can’t even imagine what it would have been like to be Gary Black watching as Dallas passed from this world into eternity, but I have witnessed the passing of two other beautiful souls into eternity, my mother, and the former principal chief of my tribe. Both demonstrated what Willard described a “radiant life and a radiant death.”
The book is divided into two parts. The first is dedicated to the problem or as Black states, “What We Misunderstand About Heaven,” and the second is dedicated to the solution, “Heaven At Hand.” I believe the real power of this book is found in the solution. There are a number of reasons why the problem exists, but Black and Willard argue for a different way of living—not so much in the realm of behavior modification, but in pursuing by indirect means a shaping of our lives so that we can do what we cannot naturally do by direct effort.
Black’s book blends his own faith journey with the lessons he learned from Willard and provides much food for thought with regard to living in the reality of eternity. If you are interested in the subjects of spiritual formation or curious with regard to Dallas Willard’s life and his transition into eternity, I think you will richly enjoy Gary Black’s text.