Plot Summary
All parents dread dealing with health emergencies with their children, so 4-year-old Colton Burpo's father and mother were understandably worried when he had to have an emergency appendectomy. In Heaven Is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back, listen to the true story of what Colton saw during his surgery.
When Colton survived the surgery, his parents were relieved and glad to move on. But slowly, Colton started to reveal things he saw during his procedure that made them take notice. Colton claimed he left his body during the appendectomy, and his parents started believing him when he was able to tell them things that they were doing at that time in another part of the hospital that he had no way of knowing.
Additionally, Colton made claims about visiting heaven. His father Todd Burpo dismissed them as anesthesia-laced dreams, until the pastor in him started recognizing biblical facts that had Colton had not learned in any preschool Sunday School class.
Finally, Colton starts to tell stories of people he met in heaven, and his parents are astounded to realize that these are descriptions of family members that Colton has never met because they died before he was born.
Believers and skeptics alike will find this to be an intriguing and enjoyable audiobook.
Author Todd Burpo is the pastor of a church in Nebraska, and also spends his time as a volunteer firefighter. He is father of Colton, who is now 13-years-old and three other children. Lynn Vincent was a collaborating writer on this project, and the San Diego resident most recently worked on Sarah Palin's Rogue. She started off writing for World Magazine after serving in the Navy.
“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.”
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AudioFile
Publisher Summary
“Do you remember the hospital, Colton?” Sonja said.
“Yes, mommy, I remember,” he said. “That’s where the angels sang to me.”
When Colton Burpo made it through an emergency appendectomy, his family was overjoyed at his miraculous survival. What they weren’t expecting, though, was the story that emerged in the months that followed—a story as beautiful as it was extraordinary, detailing their little boy’s trip to heaven and back.
Colton, not yet four years old, told his parents he left his body during the surgery—and authenticated that claim by describing exactly what his parents were doing in another part of the hospital while he was being operated on. He talked of visiting heaven and relayed stories told to him by people he met there whom he had never met in life, sharing events that happened even before he was born. He also astonished his parents with descriptions and obscure details about heaven that matched the Bible exactly, though he had not yet learned to read. With disarming innocence and the plainspoken boldness of a child, Colton tells of meeting long-departed family members. He describes Jesus, the angels, how “really, really big” God is, and how much God loves us.
Retold by his father but using Colton’s uniquely simple words, Heaven Is for Real offers a glimpse of the world that awaits us, where, as Colton says, “Nobody is old and nobody wears glasses.”
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About Todd Burpo
Todd Burpo, pastor of Crossroads Wesleyan Church in Imperial, Nebraska, is the author of Heaven Is for Real, Heaven Is for Real for Kids, and Heaven Is for Real for Little Ones. He is also the co-author, along with his wife Sonja, of Heaven Changes Everything. He can be found working shoulder-to-shoulder with the Imperial Volunteer Fire Department as a firefighter. He is also the chaplain for the Nebraska State Volunteer Firefighter’s Association. He has operated an overhead door company, coached wrestling, and served on the local school board. He was ordained in 1994.
About Dean Gallagher
Dean
Gallagher is a skilled narrator who has lent his voice to the
works of a number of the world’s most celebrated authors, including Aurelio F.
Barreto III, Eric Parks, and Gary Thomas. His audiobook credits include What a Difference a Mom Makes, and Heaven Is for
Real. He has been doing audio recordings since early 2009, and is a trained actor who has been performing in professional productions for the past 20 years.