Heaven is For Real

So even though many of my family members have already read this book and I had a general idea of what to expect before I began it, this book is not failing to astonish me. In a nutshell, Heaven is For Real is about a 4 year old boy who had a near-death experience, and begins slowly revealing that he may have taken a trip to heaven during an emergency surgery. This book holds deep emotional significance for me because it loosely, though strikingly coincidentally pertains to my family. I have had 23 first cousins, and my extended family is unusually close, especially considering the physical distance between us (from the east coast to the west one, literally). So last year when one of my cousins (whose 17th birthday was yesterday) was diagnosed with leukemia, receiving the news was devastating. He was only about 6 months older than me (the closest in age to me of all 23), but he lived in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, so our families rarely got to see each other more than once a year. We sent him our prayers constantly and never gave up hope that he would get through this: and he did get through it. My cousin beat cancer. However, in only a matter of weeks later, it was back and worse than ever. Every type of treatment was tried, but his body was no longer responding to it. There came a point when there was nothing else the doctors could do, and my cousin made the decision to stop trying. The treatment was taking to high of a toll on his body, and his strong faith along with an astounding incident told him he was ready to go home.

This incident I mentioned came a few days before the end of my 16 year old cousin's life. He was sleeping almost all day by then, but he had one particular dream that stuck out in his mind, as well as everyone else's. He told his pastor and his parents that he visited Jesus, who had his arms open, ready to receive my cousin. Although he had been heroically strong the entire journey, this event was what put him most at ease that it was his time to go. He passed away peacefully only a few days later.

Colton Burpo in Heaven is For Real seemed to have a similar experience, although it seems Colton spent more time in heaven and maybe even entered the gates. I have not read much description of Colton's experience in heaven thus far, but Colton has mentioned meeting Jesus and his deceased grandfather, as well as being sung to by angels. You may think that this is just a four-year-old's generic picture of heaven, and does not prove anything. Colton, however, with his four-year-old mind somehow knew what both of his parents were doing during the surgery, even though they were in different rooms than him and he was anesthetized the entire time. He quite straightforwardly explains this startling knowledge by saying "I went up out of my body and I was looking down and I could see the doctor working on my body." For a child who most likely does not understand the meaning of "out of body experience", I would say Colton experienced something more than a hallucination in this hospital.