Read Online Heaven Is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back by Todd Burpo, Sonja Burpo, Lynn Vincent, Colton Burpo - Free Book Online Page B
Tags: Religión, General, Christian Theology, Inspirational, Christianity, Parapsychology, Body; Mind & Spirit, Christian Life, Religious aspects, heaven, Near-Death Experiences - Religious Aspects - Christianity, Near-Death Experience, Near-Death Experiences, Heaven - Christianity, Burpo; Colton, Eschatology
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to his toys.
Upstairs, in the kitchen, I leaned against the counter and sipped from a water bottle. How could my little boy know this stuff?
I knew he wasnt making it up. I was pretty sure neither Sonja nor I had ever talked to Colton about what Jesus wore at all, much less what he might be wearing in heaven. Could he have picked up such a detail from the Bible stories we read to the kids? More of Coltons knowledge about our faith came from that than from a month of Sundays. But again, the stories in the Bible storybooks we read to him were very narrative-oriented, and just a couple of hundred words each. Not at all heavy on details, like Jesus wearing white (yet Scripture says he did). And no details on what heaven might be like.
I took another sip of water and racked my brain about the cousin thing and the markers. He didnt get that stuff from us. But even on the details I didnt understand at first, like the markers, Colton was insistent. And there was another thing about the markers that nagged at me. When I asked Colton what Jesus looked like, that was the first detail he popped out with. Not the purple sash, the crown, or even Jesus eyes, with which Colton was clearly enchanted. Hed said, right off the bat, Jesus has markers.
Id once heard a spiritual riddle that went like this: Whats the only thing in heaven thats the same as it was on earth?
The answer: the wounds in Jesus hands and feet.
Maybe it was true.
THIRTEEN LIGHTS AND WINGS
Heaven is for real
Page: 25
What have we been missing? I wondered aloud.
I dont know, she said. Its like he just pops out with new information all of a sudden.
I want to know more, but I dont know what to ask him.
We were both teachers, Sonja in the formal sense and I in the pastoral sense. We agreed that the best way to proceed was to just keep asking open-ended questions as the situation presented itself, and not fill in any blanks for Colton as I had, inadvertently, when I suggested the word crown when Colton was describing the gold thing on Jesus head. In the coming years, we would stick to that course so carefully that Colton didnt know the word sash until he was ten years old.
A couple of days after the conversation about the markers, I was sitting at the kitchen table, preparing for a sermon, and Colton was playing nearby. I looked up from my books and over at my son, who was armed with plastic swords and in the process of tying the corners of a towel around his neck. Every superhero needs a cape.
I knew I wanted to ask him about heaven again and had been turning over possible questions in my mind. I had never had a conversation like this with Colton before, so I was a little nervous about how to begin. In fact, I had never had a conversation like this with anyone before.
Trying to catch him before he actually did battle, I got Coltons attention and motioned him to come sit with me. He trotted over and climbed into the chair at the end of the kitchen table. Yes?
Remember when you were telling me what Jesus looks like? And about the horse?
He nodded, eyes wide and earnest.
You were in heaven?
He nodded again.
I realized I was starting to accept that, yes, maybe Colton really had been to heaven. I felt like our family had received a gift and, having just peeled back the top layer of tissue paper, knew its general shape. Now I wanted to know what all was in the box.
Well, what did you do in heaven? I ventured.
Homework.
Homework? That wasnt what I was expecting. Choir practice, maybe, but homework? What do you mean?
Colton smiled. Jesus was my teacher.
Like school?
Colton nodded. Jesus gave me work to do, and that was my favorite part of heaven. There were lots of kids, Dad.
This statement marked the beginning of a period that I wished we had written down. During this conversation and for the next year or so, Colton could name a lot of the kids he said were in heaven with him. He doesnt remember their names now, though, and neither do
Upstairs, in the kitchen, I leaned against the counter and sipped from a water bottle. How could my little boy know this stuff?
I knew he wasnt making it up. I was pretty sure neither Sonja nor I had ever talked to Colton about what Jesus wore at all, much less what he might be wearing in heaven. Could he have picked up such a detail from the Bible stories we read to the kids? More of Coltons knowledge about our faith came from that than from a month of Sundays. But again, the stories in the Bible storybooks we read to him were very narrative-oriented, and just a couple of hundred words each. Not at all heavy on details, like Jesus wearing white (yet Scripture says he did). And no details on what heaven might be like.
I took another sip of water and racked my brain about the cousin thing and the markers. He didnt get that stuff from us. But even on the details I didnt understand at first, like the markers, Colton was insistent. And there was another thing about the markers that nagged at me. When I asked Colton what Jesus looked like, that was the first detail he popped out with. Not the purple sash, the crown, or even Jesus eyes, with which Colton was clearly enchanted. Hed said, right off the bat, Jesus has markers.
Id once heard a spiritual riddle that went like this: Whats the only thing in heaven thats the same as it was on earth?
The answer: the wounds in Jesus hands and feet.
Maybe it was true.
THIRTEEN LIGHTS AND WINGS
Heaven is for real
Page: 25
What have we been missing? I wondered aloud.
I dont know, she said. Its like he just pops out with new information all of a sudden.
I want to know more, but I dont know what to ask him.
We were both teachers, Sonja in the formal sense and I in the pastoral sense. We agreed that the best way to proceed was to just keep asking open-ended questions as the situation presented itself, and not fill in any blanks for Colton as I had, inadvertently, when I suggested the word crown when Colton was describing the gold thing on Jesus head. In the coming years, we would stick to that course so carefully that Colton didnt know the word sash until he was ten years old.
A couple of days after the conversation about the markers, I was sitting at the kitchen table, preparing for a sermon, and Colton was playing nearby. I looked up from my books and over at my son, who was armed with plastic swords and in the process of tying the corners of a towel around his neck. Every superhero needs a cape.
I knew I wanted to ask him about heaven again and had been turning over possible questions in my mind. I had never had a conversation like this with Colton before, so I was a little nervous about how to begin. In fact, I had never had a conversation like this with anyone before.
Trying to catch him before he actually did battle, I got Coltons attention and motioned him to come sit with me. He trotted over and climbed into the chair at the end of the kitchen table. Yes?
Remember when you were telling me what Jesus looks like? And about the horse?
He nodded, eyes wide and earnest.
You were in heaven?
He nodded again.
I realized I was starting to accept that, yes, maybe Colton really had been to heaven. I felt like our family had received a gift and, having just peeled back the top layer of tissue paper, knew its general shape. Now I wanted to know what all was in the box.
Well, what did you do in heaven? I ventured.
Homework.
Homework? That wasnt what I was expecting. Choir practice, maybe, but homework? What do you mean?
Colton smiled. Jesus was my teacher.
Like school?
Colton nodded. Jesus gave me work to do, and that was my favorite part of heaven. There were lots of kids, Dad.
This statement marked the beginning of a period that I wished we had written down. During this conversation and for the next year or so, Colton could name a lot of the kids he said were in heaven with him. He doesnt remember their names now, though, and neither do
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