Heaven is for Real

According to the Gallup Poll in 2007, 81% of the Americans said that they believe in heaven. There have been other books that explore what the Bible says about heaven such as the book by Randy Alcorn entitled "Heaven". I have read others, but none of them has touched me as much as Todd Burpo's, "Heaven is for Real". This book was written with Lynn Vincent to share his son's brush with death during an emergency appendectomy.

It was written some time after this incident due to the fact that his son was only 3 1/2 years old when this took place. Little bits of what Colton experienced were revealed slowly describing what he saw in heaven. The father was astounded by how closely some of the descriptions followed the Bible. It was amazing that the boy knew what his mom and dad were doing at the time of surgery matching where they were and what they were individually doing.

I have heard of near death experiences, but none have come close to the Bible's description of heaven. The father took great pains to not lead his son into his own thoughts concerning the Bible and heaven. He was painfully careful not to put his own words in his son's mouth. Months later, the boy would make a statement or share something that happened to him in heaven that he couldn't possibly know from any prior teachings. His observations were that of a simple child, phrased in his own words, and, in fact, he didn't have words for some of the things he saw, but could describe them fully. He even saw and spoke with a younger version of a man named Pop who was his dad's grandfather.

Colton, the boy in this book, said that Jesus took him to heaven and held him. Every depiction he saw afterwards whether in Sunday school or in a story book of the Bible was never representative of Jesus according to Colton. The family got to asking him, "What's wrong with this one?" when they came across a picture and he would always point out what was different.

His initial description from the book was, "Jesus has markers. Markers, Daddy...Jesus has markers. And he has brown hair and he has hair on his face. (He didn't know the word, beard.) And his eyes...oh, Dad, his eyes are so pretty!"

"He had purple on." As he said this, Colton put his hand on his left shoulder, moved it across his body down to his right hip then repeated the motion. "His clothes were white, but it was purple from here to here." (Another word he didn't know...sash.)

"Jesus was the only one in heaven who had purple on, Dad. Did you know that?"

"And he had this gold thing on his head..., and it had this...this diamond thing in the middle of it and it was kind of pink. and he has markers, Dad."

Dad goes on the discuss this with him.

Suddenly, I had it. "Colton, you said Jesus had markers. You mean like markers that you color with?"

Colton responds. "Yeah."

Dad says, "Well, what color are Jesus' markers?"

"Red, Daddy. Jesus has red markers on him," Colton says.

Dad asks him where the "markers" are on Jesus and Colton points to his palms and tops of his feet.

The book has many such conversations between Dad and Colton. Most of them are brought up by Colton and triggered by something he sees or hears that reminds him of heaven.

Three years had passed and friends forwarded an email about a CNN segment run in December 2066 about a gifted Lithuanian-American artist then twelve years old named Akiane Kramarik who began having visions of heaven at the age of four. She paints what she sees in her visions and at the age of six was able to describe to her mother what heaven was like. Her family wasn't Christian and they did not watch television. Her mother knew that her child's visions were real and, therefore, God must be real.

Having checked this out, they finally showed a painting of the Prince of Peace done by Akiane to Colton to see what his reaction would be and where this was the picture most closely resembling Jesus. So far, nothing they had ever shown him was close. After seeing this painting, Colton was just standing there, studying.

I couldn't read his expression.

"What's wrong with this one, Colton?" I said again.

Utter silence.

I nudged him in the arm. "Colton?"

My seven year old turned to look at me and said, "Dad, that one's right."

Akiane describes Jesus as the following:

"He's pure, " Akiane was saying. "He's very masculine, really strong and big. And his eyes are just beautiful."

They both describe heaven as a place of so many bright colors and some that are even indescribable with words. This book tied in the descriptions of what Colton was trying to convey with scripture in the Bible. This is one thing that makes me think "this is for real" along with the fact that he was so young and had very little experience or background from which to draw that might have influenced his story. This book is truly an amazing reading experience.