Some of you may know that Heaven is a subject I think about from time to time. We had some great teaching on Heaven while we were in Seminary at Regent College in Vancouver, and I don’t think of it as harps and white puffy clouds anymore. It’s still a subject I’m quite unsure about, sometimes, if I’m honest, even fearful about because I just don’t understand it and my earthly human brain can’t wrap itself around the concept of eternity. I don’t know that we’ll ever really know what it’s like until we get there. But I’ve heard that some people DO have an idea about what it’s like because of first hand experience.
Recently, I have read a few books about people who claim to have had heavenly visions. I picked their books up just to see if I could catch a glimpse of forever. While they have been insightful, none was quite as genuine or believable as the one I just finished reading. Heaven is for Real lacks all pretense and simply shares a young boy’s story of his 3 minutes in heaven.
About Heaven is for Real
Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent
A young boy emerges from life-saving surgery with remarkable stories of his visit to heaven.
Heaven Is for Real is the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn’t know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear.
Colton said he met his miscarried sister, whom no one had told him about, and his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born, then shared impossible-to-know details about each. He describes the horse that only Jesus could ride, about how “reaaally big” God and his chair are, and how the Holy Spirit “shoots down power” from heaven to help us.
Told by the father, but often in Colton’s own words, the disarmingly simple message is heaven is a real place, Jesus really loves children, and be ready, there is a coming last battle.
My Review
As I said, I have read a few books about heaven in the last couple of years. They have been good books. Heaven is for Real is a GREAT book. Simply written, easy to read, but beautifully insightful, this is a book that I will recommend (and have already recommended) to many people, from all walks of life and of all ages.
I had no idea that Heaven is for Real was about a pastor’s family, but as I started to read the story, I could definitely identify with it right away. Todd Burpo talked about the struggles and sacrifices pastor’s and their families often make in the name of ministry. He talked about how he and the family went through some awful times leading up to Colton’s sickness and near death, and how he was really angry with God about it all when it seemed certain that Colton was going to die. At one point, Todd is in a room by himself while Colton is in surgery, and Todd was raging at the Lord. “Where are you? Is this how you treat your pastors?! Is it even worth it to serve you?” Sharing this heart-wrenching detail, one that is very hard to admit, but something that many pastors have struggled with at one time or another, lent credibility to the whole story, at least for me.
Another thing that stood out for me was the sweet innocence of Colton’s story. As bits and pieces came out over time, he shared very naturally about his experience in Heaven, just as you’d expect any pre-schooler to share about a trip to Grandma’s house for the weekend. Anyone with little people knows that details about their adventures can be shared at any time, out of the blue, sometimes seemingly completely out of place and prompted by who knows what.
Colton shared about what he saw in heaven with kid terms (markers, monsters, rainbows…), describing things as he saw them, rather than using adult words or Christian-ese, which he obviously would not have even known anyway. That made this glimpse into heaven very refreshing, as compared to some of the more theological or spiritual explanations I have heard adults trying to use to describe things they have seen in heaven. Simple, straight-forward, just what he saw. Oh, to see through the eyes of a child, without all the baggage we carry around as adults – that will be truly wonderful!
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| Prince of Peace Painting by Akiane Kramarik “Dad, that one’s right.” Colton’s search for a picture that accurately portrayed the Jesus he met in heaven ended when they found this painting. |
So many of the things that Colton shared seem to match with what I have understood about heaven: there’s lots of work to do there, but it’s good work and you love doing it; there are many children there, children who never lived on earth but have been adopted by “Jesus’ Dad”, as Colton described it; you recognize people there and they recognize you somehow; it’s a beautiful perfect peaceful place lit not by a sun, but by light coming from the Lord; time in heaven must be different than time on the earth, because in his 3 minutes in heaven Colton saw more than you could see in a year here; and the first person you see when you get to heaven is Jesus, and He has beautiful eyes!
There are a few things shared in Colton’s retelling of his visit to heaven that I still want to research and read more about, things that I hadn’t heard before or were quite contrary to what I had learned about heaven. I had given up the idea that we have wings in heaven, but Colton clearly described something like wings on the people around him. I need to look into that a bit more. His accuracy in describing other things has me at least thinking that I need to give this one another look.
It seems that Colton’s story of his heavenly visit has effected many people, that way – encouraging them to take a second look at things, to hope again where they had lost hope, to study God’s word more closely, to draw closer to the Lord who somehow seems more tangible when a 4-year-old describes His Heavenly Earth in greater detail than he can describe our fallen one… Some of the stories of the healing and hope people have received from hearing and reading this little guy’s story are more powerful than the original story is, and that’s saying something!
The Lord never wastes anything, and the Burpo’s willingness to share this story, the story of the visit to heaven that can’t be disconnected from the harrowing experience of having very nearly lost their son and enduring the agony of his near-mortal sickness, shows that even our suffering can minister to others, perhaps better than our mountain-top (or out of this world!?) experiences.
To witness God’s provision for another pastor’s family (and we really are just normal families in many ways with the same hurts and insecurities and hardships as any other family) is very encouraging to me. I’m still not sure that my unease about ‘forever’ is completely settled, but the detail and the many confirmations of scripture and real life details he could not have known about do provide something a little more solid for me to hold on to. There’s too much in Colton’s story to simply brush it off as childhood make-believe. His recounting of those 3 minutes in heaven is as close to first-hand experience as I have personally seen, and if it is to be believed, it’s very encouraging evidence of something far more wonderful than my human head can possibly comprehend at this point.
For Colton, and for many others who read his story and find hope and comfort in it, there is no doubt – Heaven is for Real!
Book has been provided courtesy of Thomas Nelson and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Thomas Nelson.
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I think being a son of a pastor gives it less credibility considering he has had religion shoved down his throat since he was born. He is used to hearing the stories and knowing what is expected for a near death experience in a white, European christian way. So typical.
Anonymous – I'm really sorry you feel that way, and that you feel strongly enough to say something, but not strongly enough to even leave your name or an e-mail address for me to dialogue with you directly.
I normally delete anonymous comments…. they seem cowardly, and without merit if they can't actually attach a name to the comment, especially when it's apparent that they have no knowledge of the subject I'm sharing.
Your comment isn't without merit, and is worth addressing. Your comment clearly shows that you have NOT read the book, though. Saying negative things about something you've not investigated yourself isn't usually the best course of action. I would ask that you take a second look at the book. I'd even be willing to send you my copy if you'd like. Though, as is common with many anonymous commentors, I may never hear from you again and may really be wasting my time.
If anything is totally true from this book, it is that #1) FAITH was instilled in Colton since he was born. and #2) nearly ALL of the details he shared about his vision of heaven had NEVER been shared with him anywhere in his short 4-years of life before the experience.
How can a 4-yr-old know what is expected in a near-death experience in ANY way? Maybe if he had been 8 or 10 yrs old, with a lifetime of stories under his belt, he might have come up with some of those things…. but I have 9, 10 and 12 year olds in my house who can't come up with 1/2 of what Colton shared from their everyday interaction with scripture and faith AS PASTOR'S KIDS.
The book talks also talks about a girl, raised in a completely atheistic home, who describes a similar vision in terms very similar to Colton's experience.
Read the book (as I said, I'll send you mine) and we can come at this from the same page. For now, you're at a disadvantage, without the story to start from. It's a beautiful story, and I'd love to give you the opportunity to read it!
I have to second your comments, OK 2 B Weird. I just finished the book. Unlike Anonymous, here, I come from a strong faith born of a very violent and painful conversion, in many respects similar to Paul’s in Acts – unexpected, unsolicited, and it turned my world upside down.
But I’ve had a long and varied church experience, everything from Roman Catholic to Pentacostal & charismatic bodies; I’ve seen people claim visions, “words from the Lord”, etc, and not surprisingly developed a healthy skepticism of these things, as often one could easily discern an ulterior motive, attempt at manipulation, or an attempt to evade responsibility by getting “God” on their side.
None of that is in this book. I am still trying to digest it, still applying my skeptic’s glasses, but as I see it right now, either Colton went to Heaven or his dad is a liar straight from the pit of Hell – and it’s hard for me to even type such words. But I don’t see any “in between”. There is no real way that he could have known or seen what he saw, no way he could have known about “near death experiences” or his mother’s miscarriage, etc. how do you report seeing your mother in one room on the phone and you dad in another praying, simultaneously? It seems as though the experience made him slightly precocious, as he was certainly saying things beyond his age, but there was no agenda attached. At some point, as any normal kid would do, he would begin to pick up that “hey, this gets me some attention”, but those initial experiences and utterances are what leads me to the conclusion above – and I don’t think his dad’s a liar, either.
I enojoyed the book, and as a Christian, found to even further cement me in believing in a Heaven with the Lord. What was cool, is we are not really taught how AWESOME Heaven will be, but as – It will be OK. One thing throughout the book is Colton talks about how much Jesus Loves the kids. As a Dad I need to remember he has that love for my kids, as he loves me.
I am sharing this book with all. I have also gotten the picture from Akiane and love it! I put it on my desktop to remind me of my role in this world. It is to honor and bless him and do my best with my wife to raise Godly children.
Blessings!
Jon