Heaven is for Real

So last night I read a pretty interesting book... (I'm pretty sure you've all heard of it; it's a best seller!)

It's called "Heaven is for Real."

My sister got it for Christmas, and I've heard some pretty cool things about it, so I picked it up at 9:30 last night.

I didn't put it down 'till 3:30 this morning. :P

If you don't know what the book is about, Todd Burpo, a small-town pastor, writes the account of his son, Colton's claims on going to heaven and back after having an emergency operation and almost dying. For months after the surgery, Colton reavealed amazing things about heaven, and knew about things nobody could've told him (his mother's miscarriage before he was born, and his grandpa who died before he was born).

I found the book pretty interesting. However, I'm almost not sure what to think about it. Amidst the array of interesting, confused, amazed and somewhat skeptical thoughts I had in my head, two rang out the loudest:

1. Burpo is a funny last name. haha, Burpo. Burpo, Burpo, Burpo. To be honest, it kind of grosses me out. It's like "BURP, oh!" :P

and

2. Is this made-up? There are so many accounts of people saying they've "gone to heaven and back." It's easy to be kind of skeptical about a claim like that. When we watch a magic trick, what's our first reaction? How did he DO that?! I think we sort of wind up doing the same thing when God performs miracles. We want to know if there are any smoke, mirrors or trap doors before we believe that God could've actually had any hand in it. :P

But, although I was a little skeptical, as I said, there was information that Colton knew that he couldn't have known. He was also able to tell his parents exactly where they were and what they were doing during his operation. All of his accounts on God, Jesus and heaven were all lined up with scripture (he wasn't saying anything that would give the book away as a made-up account).

Aside from the surrounding controvery of this book, it definitely makes you think. Sure, I've thought about heaven before, but not really in too much detail. It's hard to imagine how amazing any location is if you haven't been there. I've never been to Ireland, but people tell me it's beautiful. So, I guess as the title suggests, the book made heaven more real to me. I was able to imagine for a second how wonderful it must be (and how much more amazing it is compared to my human imagination)!

Have any of you read the book? If so, what are your thoughts?