Heaven is for Real

I'm not a big book reader, even magazines I tend to skim through to the parts that look interesting to me and avoid the rest. Reading is something I want to do more of, and tell myself I should do more of, especially since I believe it helps your mind to stay sharp as you age.

A popular book store called Borders is going out of business so I decided to go see if I could find any good deals. As you know, I run a daycare, so I was hoping to stock up on some children's books. As I walked the aisles, I spotted a book that I recognized as one a woman who I went on retreat with last winter was reading at the time, so I picked it up. The title was Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo.

The book is a true story of a little boy named Colton Burpo who came close to death when he suffered a ruptured appendix. He survived, despite the doctor's belief that he would not. And in the months and years to come after his near death experience, he started relaying to his parents where he had been and what he had seen as he lay on the operating table, under sedation, while the surgeon cleaned his abdomen of the poisons that had been leaking into it for five days. The first discovery that something extraordinary had happened to him went like this...

"Sometimes laughter is the only way to process tough times, so as we passed the turnoff, I decided to rib Colton a little. "Hey Colton, if we turn here, we can go back to the hospital," I said. "Do you want to go back to the hospital?" Our preschooler giggled in the dark. "No, Daddy, don't send me! Send Cassie...Cassie can go to the hospital!"

Sitting next to him, his sister laughed. "Nuh-uh! I don't wanna go either!" In the passenger seat, Sonja turned so that she could see our son, whose car seat was parked behind mine. I pictured his blond crew cut and his sky blue eyes shining in the dark. "Do you remember the hospital, Colton?" Sonja said. "Yes, Mommy, I remember," he said. "That's where the angels sang to me." Inside the Expedition, time froze. Sonja and I looked at each other, passing a silent message: Did he just say what I think he said?"

I'm sure there are lots of books out there that depict people's near death experiences, but the fact that this all came from such a young child, for me, makes it all the more fascinating, touching, believable. I read the book in a day and a half and if you, like myself, struggle with doubt when it comes to God and heaven, I would highly recommend this book. I will warn however, that there were a few times when I had to put it down, as it brought me to tears.

I've so desperately wanted to believe that the tears streaming down my Mom's face as she left this earth were tears of joy for the beauty she was entering into rather than tears of sadness for what she was leaving behind. Now I know.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." Psalm 23:4

xo,
Carrie