My great-grandfather was a man of strong faith and spirituality. He believed in the literalness of the Bible. When Ecclesiastes 3:2 says that there is "a time to be born and a time to die," he believed it with his whole heart. And he had a story to go along with it. (I was told it was true and that he knew the man in the story.)
One night a man had a dream, which he relayed to his wife upon waking the following morning. He dreamed that he was in the copper mine where he worked and while on his shift, was killed. This dream shook him to his very core and he told his wife that he would not go to work because to do so meant his death. So he stayed at home.
At some point during the day, the man became sleepy. He decided to take a nap next to the wood stove in the kitchen--someplace he could stay warm. So he curled up on the floor next to the stove and went to sleep. But he never woke up. While he was sleeping, the heavy flat iron that was on the stove, fell from its place and hit him in the head, killing him instantly.
This story, my grandfather said, proves that you can't cheat God when it comes to your day to die.
"There Is A Time For Everything..." Ecc. 3:1
