Heaven is For Real

Heaven is for Real
By Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent
About the book:
When Colton Burpo made it through an emergency appendectomy, his family was overjoyed at his miraculous survival. What they weren't expecting, though, was the story that emerged in the months that followed-a story as beautiful as it was extraordinary, detailing their little boy's trip to heaven and back.

Colton, not yet four years old, told his parents he left his body during the surgery-and authenticated that claim by describing exactly what his parents were doing in another part of the hospital while he was being operated on. He talked of visiting heaven and relayed stories told to him by people he met there whom he had never met in life, sharing events that happened even before he was born. He also astonished his parents with descriptions and obscure details about heaven that matched the Bible exactly, though he had not yet learned to read.

With disarming innocence and the plainspoken boldness of a child, Colton tells of meeting long-departed family members. He describes Jesus, the angels, how "really, really big" God is, and how much God loves us. Retold by his father, but using Colton's uniquely simple words, Heaven Is for Real offers a glimpse of the world that awaits us, where as Colton says, "Nobody is old and nobody wears glasses."

My Thoughts:

Is heaven for real?  For me the realness of heaven is not a question.  Heaven is a given, just as is the earth, the solar system and hell.  So my approach to reading and absorbing information portrayed in the book “Heaven is for Real” is different than from one who does not believe in the existence of heaven, hell, or God. 

My understandings and perceptions of what heaven is have always come from depictions and details outline throughout the Bible.  I must say, my envisions of heaven have not been from the innocents of a child’s perspective and, quite frankly, I had not contemplated the details in such a manner. 

It is easy for us to envision the beauty of streets of gold, gates of perils, and precious gemstones used to adorn the city in heaven as depicted in the Bible.  These are all things we can relate to, have a human comprehension of, items we can put an earthly value on.  Yet when seen through the eyes of a child who has yet to form an earthly understanding and value to such things, these are transformed into words of majestic color and beauty.  This transforms my visual of heaven. 

Child-like faith and honesty is has not yet been marred by the corruption of this world.  When a child as young as Colton can relay such detail and experiences such as he had in heaven, we need to listen and allow God to work through him.  We may not understand all the minute details or the ‘how or why’ this happened to Colton but we can take what God has allowed him to share and use it to enhance our earthly understanding of heaven. 

Favorite Quote: 

“I knew he wasn’t making it up.” 

Rating 4 carats

*I received this book free for review from Thomas Nelson Publishers*
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