Religion: A Pastor Ponders

There goes the judge!

By Pastor William Jenkins

April 18, 2007

Judge Allen Daggett died the week before Easter. I was his pastor for a few years and found him to be a very cordial man, always cheerful and pleasant to all he met. By the time I knew him, he had retired from twenty years service on the bench, He was also having trouble with curvature of his spine. It was difficult for him to turn his head so he turned his body instead. When he did this the thing you noticed was his smile. He was affectionately known by all as “The Judge.” As long as he was able, he would come during the Sunday School hour and hang around the coffee pot to visit with old friends.

On one occasion he had to be taken to the hospital and almost died. While visiting with him, I asked if he was afraid of dying. He answered, “Not in the least. I have already done that.”

He went on to tell of an experience he had some years before when he “flat-lined” after a surgery. During those brief minutes, he floated out of his body and hung suspended in the corner of the room near the ceiling. He could see the people working over his body. He said he had never felt so peaceful, free and healthy. There was a sense of lightness that he had never experienced before. He wanted to tell the people trying to revive him to stop, but they could not hear him. Too soon he felt himself drawn back to his body but he did not want to return. He ended his story by saying, “When my time comes to go, I will be ready, and I will not be afraid.”

I had heard of people having near-death experiences before. Whatever my opinion of those stories there is no reason for me, or anyone else, to doubt “The Judge.” I tell this story because he was a man of faith and I believe he would want others to know about his experience. It seems only appropriate that he would go during the Easter season. None-the-less, he will be disappointed if there is no Texas Longhorn cheering section in heaven.

League City United Methodist Church is located at 1411 Main Street (FM 518), one block east of Interstate 45. For information, call the church offices at 281-332-1557 or visit the website at

HYPERLINK - http://www.lcumc.org