Day 137: Heaven is for real

I have been reading the book, Heaven is for Real. My kids and I watched the movie trailer online a few weeks ago and were completely enthralled so we decided to read it before Easter (when the movie is supposed to come out).


It has an easy flow and if you choose to read it--I'm sure you'll enjoy it.  It's basically about a 4 year old who has appendectomy surgery and goes to Heaven for about 3 minutes while on the operating table.  His accounts are quite fascinating and they certainly help paint a picture of what Heaven is really like.  I won't give too much away (in case anyone reading hasn't read it yet or wants to see the movie) but it isn't an overly religious book even though the father authoring it is a pastor.  It is a very heart warming story and it is touching.  I think my favorite part was hearing that in Heaven, we can fly.  This is something I used to dream about a lot when I was a child-flying.  I later read somewhere that when we're dreaming of flying that we are at our most creatively and it made sense to me.  Flying was such a freeing experience in my dreams and it certainly lessened it's prominence in my dreams as I grew older.  I often wish I could "tap" into that creative-child -like nature more frequently because I so enjoyed those dreams of flying.  So when I read this in the book, I was excited to think that flying is something we can experience again in Heaven.

Another point made in the book is that we see people in heaven.  This interests me because of losing my own father and the fact that my own children do not know him.  I am very excited of this aspect being altered in heaven or made a non-issue.  I feel that my children will get to make up for all that was not part of their earthly experience once they are in heaven with my earthly father as well as our spiritual father.  I long for them to know him like I do. As much as it saddens me that we all missed out on my father's earthly presence, I feel good knowing it will be a non-issue in heaven.  I truly believe that in heaven, it will be as if they knew him all along. And I will get to meet and know my grandmother, whom I missed out on knowing because she left earth before I was born. 


The other parts of the book that impacted me were just thinking about Heaven.  It isn't that I haven't thought about Heaven.  I have. It's just that I haven't thought recently about Heaven and this book inspired me to read some more of the bible (which I feel could only ever be a good thing).  I took a 21 day challenge to read bible passages for 21 days (in a pray like Daniel effort for the month of January) and gain Godly wisdom.  It was during these 21 days that I also read the Heaven is For Real book and another titled, The Temperament God Gave Your Kids.  Both books were very interesting and enjoyable. Both were enlightening and inspiring.  Both made me think about Heaven and our purpose here on earth.  We truly DO have a purpose and our time on earth is relatively small in the bigger picture.  Heaven is REAL and there are a dozen books out there on people's various experiences with it, but I prefer to adhere to a child's perspective. Much of what he experiences is in line with the bible's teachings on heaven.  It was just pleasant to hear it accounted from by a child.