For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them. Ecclesiastes 9:12

In 1988, a friend of mine called Brian died in my house. At the time he was staying with me after breaking up with his girlfriend.

Many years later I experienced what is known as a ‘proxy sitting’ where a woman I had never met before, (she was an acquaintance of my sisters) visited a medium, and came back with a message for me from Brian. Despite the fact that the woman didn’t know me or Brian’, the information she gave me about him was uncannily accurate, and included the statement; “Brian said ‘it was ‘his time to go.’”

I often wonder about that statement, ‘it was ‘his time to go.’ After all, Brian had died after falling over while drunk in a bar; his skull was fractured (even though we didn’t know it at the time) and while lying on the floor in my living room he suffered a brain hemorrhage.

So if it really was ‘his time to go’, did he sub-consciously damage himself or was he guided by someone or something to effectively, kill himself? We often hear of people having near-death-experiences, and being told, it’s not their time, but if it was Brian’s time, how does it work?

Recenly I spotted Somerset Maugham’s delightful short story The Appointment in Samara, which is what bought Brian back into my mind this morning and prompted me to write this article.

A certain merchant in Baghdad sent his servant to the market to buy some provisions. A little while later, the servant returned looking white in the face. In a trembling voice he said, “Just now in the market place I was jostled by a man in the crowd, and when I turned I saw it was Mr. Death. He looked at me and made a threatening gesture. Please lend me your horse, because I want to go to Samara where Mr. Death will not be able to find me.” 
The merchant agreed and lent the scared man his horse. The servant mounted the horse and rode away as fast as the animal could gallop. Later that day, the merchant went down to the market place and saw Mr. Death standing in the crowd. He approached him and said, “Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning?” “That was not a threatening gesture,” said Mr. Death. “It was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, because I have an appointment with him tonight in Samara.”

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