Book SummaryHeaven Is For Real, by Todd Burpo

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Heaven Is For Real

In Heaven is for Real, pastor Todd Burpo relates the story of how, following a severe illness, his young son Colton claimed that he’d visited heaven and met Jesus. Here’s a timeline of the main events in Colton’s story:

2003

February 27th: Shortly before a planned family trip to Colorado, Colton—then aged 3 years and 10 months—becomes sick. A local doctor diagnoses him with stomach flu.

February 28th: Colton recovers enough to make the trip to Colorado.

March 1st to 2nd: Colton’s illness returns. He begins to vomit frequently and complains of pain in his abdomen. A family friend suggests that Colton may have appendicitis.

March 3rd to 4th: Todd and his wife, Sonja, decide to take Colton home to Imperial, Nebraska, and check him into a hospital there. An X-ray reveals multiple masses in Colton’s abdomen. The doctors are unsure what’s causing the masses but, based on Colton’s blood tests, don’t believe it’s appendicitis. Colton’s condition worsens as he fails to respond to any treatment.

March 5th: Todd and Sonja become frustrated with the doctors’ lack of progress and decide to transfer Colton to Great Plains Regional Medical Center in North Platte, Nebraska. The doctors there quickly establish that Colton has a ruptured appendix, leaving toxins leaking into his body.

Colton undergoes emergency surgery to remove the toxins and save his life. During the surgery, Sonja sits in the hospital waiting room, calling friends and family to update them on her son’s condition. Meanwhile, Todd finds a quiet room and prays.

March 6th to 12th: Colton recovers from his surgery.

March 13th: It appears that Colton is well enough to be discharged. However, at the last minute, the doctors discover that Colton has developed new areas of infection in his abdomen. Not only does Colton have to remain in hospital, but he has to undergo surgery again.

March 14th to 16th: In the wake of Colton’s second surgery, his bowels stop functioning: He can’t pass any gas or feces.

March 17th: The doctors at Great Plains conclude there’s nothing more they can do for Colton. They suggest transferring him to a specialist children’s hospital in Denver. However, before the transfer can take place, a freak snowstorm hits North Platte, trapping the Burpos there.

Back in Imperial, Todd’s congregation comes together to pray. They ask God to either make the snowstorm pass or make Colton’s constipation pass. Within an hour, Colton’s condition begins to improve. By that evening, his constipation has cleared.

March 18th: Colton is practically back to his usual self, astounding his doctors.

March 19th: Colton is finally discharged.

July 3rd: The Burpos are on a road trip to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, when they drive past the turn to Great Plains Regional Medical Center. Sonja asks Colton if he remembers the hospital. Colton replies that he does: It’s the place where the angels sang to him.

Todd and Sonja are stunned: Colton has never mentioned angels singing to him before. They stop the car and question Colton about the experience. Colton reveals that while he was having his first operation, he met not only angels, but also Jesus. He adds that...

Heaven Is For Real Summary Chapters 1-10: Colton Gets Sick

The months leading up to February 2003 had been difficult for Nebraskan pastor and father-of-two Todd Burpo. He’d experienced a number of health issues, including a badly broken leg, kidney stones, and a breast cancer scare. While unwell, he’d been unable to continue his work as a garage door installer, leaving the Burpo family’s finances precarious.

Todd thought a family trip would be just the thing to lift everyone’s spirits. So when, in late February, he was invited to Greeley, Colorado for a church board meeting, he decided to bring his wife, Sonja, and kids, Cassie (aged 6) and Colton (aged 3 years, 10 months), along too.

Colton Becomes Sick

Todd left for Colorado first, expecting the rest of his family to join him in a few days. However, on February 27th, just before Sonja and the kids were due to set off, Colton got sick with stomach pains, a fever, and chills. A local doctor diagnosed him with stomach flu. Todd worried that the trip might be off, but, by the next day, Colton had seemingly recovered. Sonja called Todd to let him know that she and the kids were on their way to Colorado.

The beginning of the trip passed without incident. The family visited an...

Heaven Is For Real Summary Chapters 11-15: Colton First Describes Heaven

Almost as soon as the Burpos returned home from the hospital, Todd and Sonja noticed that their son seemed to have a new-found preoccupation with Jesus. Three notable incidents attracted their attention:

Incident #1: Around a week after Colton’s discharge, the bills for his hospital stay began to arrive. The Burpos were in financial trouble even before Colton got sick, so there was no way they’d cover all the bills due that month.

As Todd and Sonja discussed which bills to pay and which to defer, Todd stated that they should prioritize paying their tithes: Doing so was a way to thank God for saving their son. They could pay the hospital bills later. However, Colton apparently disagreed. He piped up that the family needed to pay the hospital doctor since Jesus “used” him to make Colton better.

Incident #2: Shortly after the tithes incident, Colton got into trouble at a playdate because he refused to share toys with his friend. When Todd sat Colton down to discuss what had happened, he found that Colton already knew that what he’d done was wrong. Colton stated that Jesus himself had instructed him to be kind to people.

Incident #3: A couple of weeks...

Heaven Is For Real Summary Chapters 16-26: Colton Reveals More About His Heavenly Experience

In the months and years following Colton’s initial revelations about his trip to heaven, the young boy slowly revealed more information about his experience. Notably, he described:

• Encounters with his dead relatives
• How Jesus called Todd to be a pastor
• God’s and Jesus’s thrones
• The Battle of Armageddon

Colton Describes Meeting “Pop”

In August 2003, Colton and Todd were on a road trip to a nearby town when Colton suddenly asked whether Todd had a grandfather named “Pop.” Todd replied that he did—Pop had been his maternal grandfather. He’d passed away in a car accident when Todd was a small child.

Colton responded by saying that Pop was very nice. This struck Todd as unusual: How did Colton know that Pop was nice? Why was he speaking as if he knew him, when Pop had died decades before Colton’s birth? Todd quickly concluded that Colton must have met Pop while in heaven and asked his son whether this was the case. Colton responded that it was, and that while speaking to Pop, he’d learned that Todd and Pop had been close—which was true.

Todd was blown away by this latest revelation, which seemed to confirm that we’re reunited with our...

Heaven Is For Real Summary Chapter 27: The Burpos Share Their Story

On January 28th, 2007, Todd publicly spoke about Colton’s experience for the first time while giving a sermon at a Colorado Springs church. The sermon’s theme was people without faith. Todd described how his faith had wavered when Colton was sick, but it had grown again when he heard about Colton’s heavenly experiences.

Sharing Colton’s experience with the world had—and continues to have—numerous consequences for Todd and the rest of the Burpo family:

• People now approach Todd with difficult questions about the afterlife. For instance, one woman asked him whether Colton had seen her stillborn child in heaven. Todd did his best to reassure the woman by telling her that since his miscarried daughter was in heaven, there was every reason to believe her late child was, too.
• People frequently ask Todd: Why Colton? Why did Jesus choose him to have this experience over other sick children? Todd still isn’t sure. Maybe it was to help him and Sonja come to...

Shortform Exercise: Reflect on Heaven is for Real

Heaven is for Real depicts one boy’s apparent trip to the afterlife. Reflect on the narrative and what it means to you.

Before you read this summary, did you believe in the concept of an afterlife? Why or why not?