***Giveaway ended. Winner notified by email.***
After my recent review and giveaway of the A Year with God book from Thomas Nelson publishers, the publisher contacted me and asked if I would like to do a review/giveaway of the book Heaven is for Real
About Heaven is for Real
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.
I have to be honest with you. When I sat to read Heaven is for Real, I was a bit tentative. Not about heaven, of course. I am a Christian, and I know that heaven is my home (I’m just a stranger here). I was tentative about the potential veracity of the book. I have heard, and read, some far-fetched “been to heaven and back” stories, and I wasn’t sure where this one would fall on the scale of verity. So, I approached it with the proverbial grain of salt (i.e. accepting a truth but with reservations).
I read the entire 163 pages (which includes the epilogue) of this book in a single day. At times I laughed, and at times I cried. And I was reminded of one of the things that I absolutely love about children… their uncanny ability to accept things that adults have difficulty even fathoming. Children lack the guile and cynicism that seem an inherent attribute of adulthood. I do not doubt for one second that Colton Burpo had an ethereal encounter. When his father, Todd Burpo (also a Pastor) documents the conversations in which Colton related his experience, it has the timbre of innocence that is intrinsic to childhood.
While I wouldn’t recommend that the book be used as a foundation for doctrine (there are parts that just don’t sit well with me), it is a simple, easy read that is thought provoking. If you are looking for an inspirational story about how God can work in the life of a child to bring hope to others, grab a copy.
Buy it… Heaven is for Real can be purchased at many local Christian bookstores and on Amazon.com.
Win it… Thomas Nelson Publishers would like to give one TBC reader their own copy of Heaven is for Real.
Mandatory entry… Simply tell me another title from Thomas Nelson Publishers that you would love to add to your home library.
***Please note- this must be done before any bonus entries will count***
Bonus entries–
- +1- Follow me on GFC—right side bar, comment with your user name.
- +1- Like me on Facebook and comment back here with your screen name.
- +1- Follow me on Twitter AND tweet this contest using @ladyvdzine and linking back to this post- comment with your tweet status (may be done up to 4x/day, at least 30 minutes apart)
- May use “#win Heaven is for Real http://goo.gl/iyhl0 via @ladyvdzine (01/22) @ThomasNelson #giveaway #book”
- +1- Like Thomas Nelson on Facebook and comment back with your screen name.
- +1- Follow Thomas Nelson on Twitter and comment back with your profile name.
- +1- Share this giveaway on your Facebook page and comment back with a link to the share (may be done 1x/day).
- +1- For each current giveaway that you enter- comment with name of giveaway
- +1- For each non-giveaway post that you submit to StumbleUpon *may use the button in the top/bottom of each post to submit- comment back with your Stumble Upon profile and name of the post you submitted.
- +1- For each non-giveaway post that you leave a RELEVANT comment on- comment back with post title or link to post.
- +5- Blog this contest linking to this post- leave 5 comments here with a link to your post
The fine print…
Contest open to US addresses.. Contest ends at 11:59 a.m. CST on 01/22/2011. Winner will be selected randomly. Winner will be notified by email and will have 48 hours to respond with mailing address. If no response is received from the winning entrant, a new winner will be selected. Prize will be forfeited and donated to charity if not claimed by primary or alternate winners.
The fine folks at Thomas Nelson Publishers provided me with the aforementioned complimentary product(s) to facilitate this review. No other compensation was received. All opinions express are 100% my own and are based on my own experience. Your experience may differ.
for $10.99.
is a must read! We have a couple of years before we have to worry about kindergarten, as Mister is just two and a half. However, he and Sister both truly enjoyed reading about this silly bull.
by Gary Chapman. I first read The Five Love Languages in 1997, shortly after I became a Christian. I learned SO much the first time I read it. For the first time in my adult life, I actually felt like I understood my Dad. My Dad was always the provider. He worked long, hard hours to provide for the six of us kids and Mom. And Dad is a man of few words. From reading The Five Love Languages, I realized that Dad spoke his love for us every time he punched the time clock, every time he worked overtime, and every time he took the odd job snow plowing or repairing someone’s car.
Dr Kevin Leman’s 
and Ravi Zacharias’ 
so it may be August before I get to start it. August is just a few days away, though.
My Grandma Lived in Gooligulch has been a favorite of mine since it was first published in 1990!
Of course, I loved Dr. Seuss growing up, so my kids have the entire Seuss library.
My kids have a whole set of board books about Jesus from Candy Cane Press that they just love.
The Pigeon books, by Mo Willems, are my new favorite series.
Eric Carle’s books are masterpieces of artwork and storytelling.
I fell in love with Laura Numeroff’s books the first time I read them!
