Publisher's Synopsis
2012 Radio Interview Excerpt:
Karol: Marc, you quote Josh's writings in your wonderful book. Your son's words are very refreshing. He talks about life being "a gift" and that "no one can live your life for you." The book really made me think.
Karol: Josh was a great writer, admired in high school by his teachers. He had a big heart and boundless enthusiasm. He was very caring and he had also suffered greatly. I called him, "The King of Compassion." His love and caring changed my life.
Karol: Yes, you said all the suffering he went through shaped him to be a very beautiful man. You had your own suffering. I read the back of your book and I quote: "Marc Swift was miraculously healed after being given five more years to live following a brain tumor operation in 1977." Can you tell us about it?
Marc: Yes, Jesus is amazing. He completely healed my brain two years after I had a brain tumor operation. The doctors had given me only five more years to live. That was back in 1977. Here I am now. That completely changed my life around.
Karol: Yes, that would change my world around! So from the years of 1977 to 2008 when you began to restore your relationship with your son, Josh, what did you do?
Marc: I ended up having a fairly dysfunctional marriage, which was mostly contentious and undermined a lot of my efforts. Josh had a great sense of humor and he wrote about it brilliantly in a short story I put in the book: "The Flavor of My Family: Nutty, spiced heavily with resentment and hostility. With an aftertaste of pure insanity."
Karol: Yet, during that time of 25 years, you operated a successful auto detail shop out of your house called Mr. Polish Detail.
Marc: I always felt very responsible for taking care of my family and I was really good at detailing cars and the Lord was with me.
Karol: Yes, Josh talks about how hard you worked for them and that you never lacked anything material.
Marc: I was able to pass on this craft to my sons. I started teaching Josh how to detail when he was five and the same for his brother, Mike. It did us all three a lot of good to work together. We had all kinds of talks during that hour or hour and a half we spent together. No matter how difficult things were, this time was always solid because it was my business, and I had a deadline to meet and I required workmanship of excellence. They naturally rose to my level of expectation and they always did amazing work, even faster than me sometimes!
Karol: What made you start writing about Josh?
Marc: Just when things were really good between us, couldn't be better, and Josh was the happiest he'd ever been, he died in his sleep at the age of 24.
Karol: I'm sorry. I cannot imagine how sad that must have been for you.
Marc: It was extremely painful. Although he did die when he was so happy. And he went straight to be with God his heavenly Father. I felt this peace when I found him. It was so strong. Stronger than concrete. I've never known anything like it. I couldn't even get upset, not for more than a third of a second. And the glory of God was all over the room, all over the house. And there's more. It's all in the book. When you go through something like that you just see death differently. You see life differently.
Karol: That conversation you have with Josh from Heaven was as real to me as these recent movies about Jesus and Heaven. It's like, "So this is who God is?!!" So merciful, so welcoming, with such open arms. Great love. Yes, you must keep telling this story.
Marc: Thank you, Karol. I will!
Karol: Thank you Marc. "To Life!" as Josh would always say.
Marc: To Life Karol!
