Heaven Is For Real (Burpo)

Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back
Todd Burpo, Colton Burpo, 2011
Thomas Nelson, Inc
163 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780849946158


Summary
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. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
Todd Burpo is pastor of Crossroads Wesleyan, a wrestling coach, a volunteer fireman, and he operates a garage door company with his wife, Sonja, who is also a children’s minister, busy pastor’s wife, and mom. Colton, now an active 11-year-old, has an older sister Cassie and a younger brother Colby. The family lives in Imperial, Nebraska.  (From the publisher.)

Book Reviews
Much of the book’s success has been fueled by word of mouth, since it did not begin with the usual best-seller channels: there has been no elaborate book tour, big-name publisher or brand-name author.... [Patricia Bostelman of Barnes & Noble] said, “But what was unusual about this book was that it was the story of a little boy. It deactivated some of the cynicism that can go along with adults capitalizing on their experiences.”
New York Times


Burpo, a Wesleyan pastor in rural Nebraska, recounts the story of his son's mystic vision of heaven while the youngster was suffering from a near-fatal illness in the spring of 2003. Through the course of the work, Burpo recalls conversations he had with his son about what heaven was like. Christians will be encouraged, non-Christians not at all. This work is written in a plain, conversational style that Dean Gallagher narrates with great skill. Gallagher reads at a pace that is never hurried, even when recalling stressful incidents. He is expressive, but never melodramatic, throughout the production--especially when relating the anguish Burpo and his wife felt at nearly losing their child..
AudioFile


Colton's detailed account includes floating away, looking down on his dad praying in the hospital, seeing God's throne, and meeting relatives---including his sister who died in a miscarriage (and whom his parents had never mentioned). Riveting!.
Christianbook.com

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Heaven Is For Real:

1. Have you read other accounts of those who have experienced heaven? If so, how does Colton's experience compare?

2.Does the way in which Colton reveals his journey—little by little, piece at a time, rather than all at once—make his story more, or less, credible for you?

3. In what way would you say that Colton's young age (he was four) influences his vision of heaven? Would it have been different had he been, say 34...or 64?

4. Do Colton's descriptions of heaven fit your own conception of heaven? If so, how. If not, why not?

5. What do you make of Colton's description of Jesus's blues eyes as and that he was seated on a horse?

6. In what ways do Colton's reporting shift from a descriptive vision of heaven to a more prophetic one?

7. Talk about the scriptural parallels between Colton's descriptions and predictions of heaven.

8. How do you explain the great popularity of this book? Why are people are drawn to books about those who experience heaven? Why is the attraction so powerful? What are people seeking?

9. Some readers wish that Todd Burpo had devoted more time to his son's experience of heaven—that too much of the book revolves around the Burpo family's life and Colton's illness, rather than Colton's "Trip to Heaven and Back." Do you agree ... or disagree?

10. What surprises you most about Colton's journey? What pleases or delights you most...or disturbs you? Overall, what is your reaction to Heaven Is For Real?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please fee free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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