It was silent in my hospital room except for the beeping noise coming from the heart rate monitor. Since there was nothing else to do, I laid there listening to the slow beep noise. Beep, beep, beep. After a while the beeping noise was suddenly replaced by an unbroken eerie sound "Beeeeeeeeeeee." My eyes opened wide with panic as I listened to the monitor "flat line," which indicated that I no longer had a heartbeat. I waited for death to follow. I expected to see big lights from heaven break through the ceiling of the room as the moment of my death arrived. I waited, and waited, and waited, but death never came. In an attempt to understand the situation, I began to look around the room. Eventually I looked down at my hand and discovered that the heart rate monitoring device had slipped off my finger. The tension in my shoulders dropped in a sigh of relief when I made this discovery. If I wasn't going to die from the accident, I thought I might die from a heart attack caused by the heart rate monitor scaring me to death. This happened two more times. Each time, I went through the same cycle of thinking I was about to die before realizing that the monitoring device had slipped off my finger...
IF I WOULD HAVE DIED
Just two weeks after the accident, I was back at home. I had difficulty breathing and tired out very easily because of my punctured lung. This, along with my other injuries, left me fairly inactive throughout the summer. My condition forced me to do a lot of sitting, which in turn caused me to do a lot of thinking. The most prominent question I asked myself was, "If I would have died, would I have gone to heaven?" I forced myself to be perfectly honest. The true answer was very obvious to me. The answer was "No!" I knew I was not fit for heaven because of certain choices I had made in my life. Death always seemed far off in the distance before the car accident. I figured I could get away with doing things I knew were wrong because I planned to straighten out later on in life. I thought I would get to do all the things I ever wanted to do without any problems. I thought I would grow up, go off to college, get married, have a family, have a good job, and live to be about eighty.
The reality is that any of us, including myself, could die today! It could be an hour from now. It could be in five minutes. We just never know when it will happen. Not acknowledging that we are going to die, and not facing the fact that it could be at any moment, does not help us prepare for it. After facing the reality of my own death, and how close it could be, I resolved to be the best person I could be at every moment of every day. I wanted to be ready for my death and judgment before God. I strongly believed that I needed to choose to follow God's ways in order to go to heaven. No longer was I going to take chances by doing things I knew were wrong. From these thoughts, I developed a plan to improve. My plan started with...
THE FOLLOWING ARE TESTIMONIES FROM PEOPLE WHO HAVE READ I'VE GOT TO CHANGE
Award winning Author, Michele Bondi Bottesi,
wrote a blog regarding this book. To read it, click
HERE.
A high school student named Shondel wrote to Sean on Facebook saying, "Hi, Sean. You are probably trying to figure out who I am. Well for starters, you don't know me. I am sending you a message because I read your book I've Got To Change. I borrowed it off of my youth pastor's book shelf, and I loved it. I couldn't put it down, you wrote in a way that made it real. Although the struggles in my life are different from what you faced and wrote about, the struggles I do face became more clear and things began to click for me as I continued to read. In the last three years alone, my life has changed so much. Some good things, and some not so good, but one thing I know from your book is that even though I have changed some, I can't stop there. I have to keep going or I won't make it anywhere else, so I guess I want to say thanks for sharing what you know. I'm sure I'm not the only one challenged by it." Sean responded and asked her for permission to add her statement to the testimonies on his website. She replied, "You can add what I said to your website. I don't mind at all. People need to read it! And thanks for writing back. It was awesome that you did!"
“Last night I read I’ve Got to Change from cover to cover. While it is certainly geared towards youth, I am a 54 year old man who returned to the Catholic Church just 4 years ago after many years away. What impressed me most is Sean’s openness and sincerity, and his ready admittance of his own struggles, even after beginning to change and follow our Lord Jesus Christ. It also is truly penned in his own “voice”—I for one felt he was literally a guest here in my home excitedly telling me his story rather than simply reading about him! I almost wanted to go make him a cup of coffee a few times so that he could continue! Mr. McVeigh is very candid and willing to share not only about his victories, but his defeats. That humanity gives the book immense appeal. In short, no matter what age, I think anyone you may know who is struggling with Faith should likely find a copy on their pillow one day! The most important thing a book can do is cause one to think, ponder, and be challenged to grow in God, and this one does all three. Great read.” Richard Evans
"These types of books (Will You Spread My Word For Me? and I've Got To Change) do not come along very often. Once I started reading them I found it too hard to put them down. Your books made me stop and look within my own self! How I had been living, and how I needed to change. It has made me want a deeper commitment with my own Catholic faith. You are a rare person with a wonderful writing talent that can only come from God. Please continue to use that GIFT! God Bless You." - Wayne
"I planned to only read a few pages before I went to bed, but I couldn’t stop reading! I was up for hours, because I wanted to find out what happened next! I can’t believe you went through all of that! I never would have guessed by looking at you that you would have gone through something like that! I read to the end of Part Two in my first sitting. The next day I planned to read five or six pages of Part Three, but I couldn’t put it down again. I read all the way to the end!" - Fr. Joseph (Priest)
"Your book is riveting! I was shocked and amazed! You definitely have a story to tell!" - (From a Catholic Religious Education Director)
"As a mother of four sons, ages 19-24, I found Sean McVeigh’s book, I’ve Got to Change, invaluable. Moms always want to help their kids, but as those 'kids' grow older and begin to think that they know it all, it is much harder to reach them, much harder to influence their actions. This becomes the time when most Catholic moms buff their rosary beads more diligently, praying more fervently to Mary, God, and guardian angels to watch over their could-be-rebellious children. Praying often takes the place of doing. Most of what teenagers and young adults see is mass marketed to them through the Internet and video games. The average Joe does not watch EWTN. The average Joe listens to his peers. And we all know how scary that can be. I first met Sean McVeigh at a Catholic marketing convention. Here was this young man with a mission: to see to it that others would learn from his mistakes and turn from their risky behavior, thus becoming closer to God. His spiel sold me; I bought his book. One day one of my sons’ world shattered. I knew he’d be fine, but he didn’t believe it. Why would he believe me, his mom? I couldn’t possibly know what he was going through. But I knew someone who did! I trotted out I’ve Got to Change and put it on the table next to him. He sat on the couch all day long reading Sean’s book. I let Sean do the talking. I was thankful that his words did what I couldn’t do at the moment. I’ve never been a guy! How do I know what guys feel? Sean used a tragedy in his life to begin his conversion, and felt passionate enough about his changes to want other young people to know that they, too, could choose the right path. Buy I’ve Got to Change by Sean McVeigh, read it and “carelessly” leave the book under your child’s cell phone, next to the gaming system, or on his or her bed. Praying is great, but doing is better. Do this for your son or daughter. It’s another tool in your mom arsenal. You’ll be glad you did." - Maureen Locher (Copy editor and columnist - www.MaureenLocher.com)
"Your book is so personal, so intimate and human, it just touches my heart. I love it! It feels like you are sitting there talking to me. I feel like I can feel the Holy Spirit speaking to me through these pages. Once I start reading it, I have trouble putting it back down." - Joyce (Office secretary)
"I started reading your book and couldn’t put it down. Your story is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing it! You are going to touch so many lives with it! It is so powerful!" - Jocelyn (College student)
"I commend you for putting yourself out there like that, and sharing your successes and failures. That took a lot of courage! Your story has so many messages for us all. It will touch people of all ages. There is something in there for us all to relate to, and I think it is just what our world needs in this day and age!" - Peter (College student)
"Sean McVeigh says that his purpose in writing this book was to help people. The story of his accident and recovery would definitely make people think twice before making the mistakes that he made. Not only would people benefit by learning the dangers of certain behaviors, but they would also benefit spiritually, because Sean’s story shows the power of prayer and the mercy of God." - Vincent (Age 15)
"What I liked best about Sean’s story was how he kept persevering in his struggle to become more holy. Many people in the same situation would have given up, but Sean stayed close to the Sacraments and it made all the difference. A lot of people will be inspired by this book!" - Rose (Age 17)
If you have read this book and would like to share your testimony. Email it to info@CatholicGuestSpeaker.com.
I've Got To Change retails for
$14.95 and has a total page count of 144.
