Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo

Heaven is for Real is a story of how a 4 year old boy survived a burst appendix, went to heaven, miraculously survived the surgery and began telling his parents what he saw in eternity.

Colton Burpo and his parents weren't aware that his appendix had burst when they decided to go for a little vacation. Colton spent 5 days with the poison leaking into his system.

When he finally got the attention and treatment needed, things looked very dim.

After recovering, little Colton began telling his parents about sitting on Jesus' lap, visiting with his dad's grandpa who he had never met, and talking with his sister who had been miscarried.

Other insights bring credence to his experience like how he saw what his parents were doing while he was in surgery.

Like many, I've-been-to-heaven stories, I was skeptical. Here's a little boy who could simply be using his creativity in describing what he saw. In one instance, after watching The Chronicles of Narnia, Colton tells his dad that there will be a way between God and the good people versus Satan and the monsters. The good people will fight with swords and bows and arrows.

Sounds a bit similar to the battle scene in the film.

However, this experience has brought hope to a number of people. Colton's mom and dad, a Wesleyan pastor, believe him and want to share this inspiring story with us.



This book was provided for review by Thomas Nelson Publishing.

In His Image Devotional Bible

The In His Image Devotional Bible NLT is a fairly nice resource. It is the full Bible in the easy-to-read New Living Translation.

Throughout the pages, the editors have included reading guides that include reflections on the words describing God.

Before getting to the Old Testament, they provide a list of attributes and where you can find the devotional readings within Scripture.

Each book opens with a summary, purpose and which verses reveal God's character.

Within each book you will find small boxes that contain the words, "Because God is..." followed by one word descriptions and the verse in which it's used. You will also find boxes containing, "Because God is...I will..." to be used as application devices.

There are a few study footnotes to help explain some of the more challenging words as you would find in a full Study Bible.

After Revelation, you will find pages describing the Character of God, followed by an index of prayerful readings based on each characteristic, a response to God article index, God's names and titles index, and a master divine attributes index.

This would make a great addition to any Bible library.


This book was provided for review by Tyndale Publishing.

The Grace of God by Andy Stanley

The Grace of God is the kind of book you need to read if you want to better understand God's grace.

Andy Stanley takes a churchy concept of grace and uses his knowledge of Scripture and experience to unpack it for the average reader.

You will be encouraged to dig into your own Bible to find the stories and reread them through the lens of grace.

There's a lot of talk about grace in the church and with Christians. Most of the time it's just vain repetition. How many of us truly understand and comprehend what the grace of God is and how it functions in our lives?

Stanley divides his book into two sections. With the first dealing with grace found in the Old Testament, Stanley shows us the grace found in the giving of the Law, and following through much of the well-known stories.

After a short "quiet" break of the Selah, we jump into the examples of grace found in the New Testament.

With 13 chapters in all, The Grace of God is well worth the time to read and digest this helping of grace explained.



This book was provided for review by Thomas Nelson Publishing.

Fun for the Whole Family

Fun for the Whole Family Hour Leader Kit was given to me for review by Group.

This kit is supposed to be used by families to create an hour's worth of material in connection to the latest Narnia movie to be released by FOX.

With that in mind, this kit is simply a clever advertising ploy.

In the kit, you will find a CD with a number of songs to be played in the background. You will get a DVD with three clips from the Voyage of the Dawn Treader movie. And you will get a map. This map has some unique properties to it as there are sections on it that can be revealed using water.

The songs on the CD are the best thing about this kit. There are a number of original as well as familiar songs included. Many of the songs have a sea-faring sound.

I would not recommend this for anyone. I can see churches and Children's Ministry leaders being sucked into the idea of facilitating an entire hour of fun for families that seem to find very little time together.

Unless you want to help promote the new Narnia movie, pass on this kit.


This kit was provided for review by Group Publishing.

The Way Home

I watched this with a small bias. I have a young son so the story of a family who loses their two year old strikes a little close to home and kept me from being too objective with the film.

Dean Cain stars in the true story, The Way Home. Cain plays Randy Simpkins; a hard working father of three boys.

While preparing to pack the van for a family vacation, the youngest Simpkins boy, Joe, disappears.

Randy and his wife go door to door looking for little Joe. Randy eventually calls 911 and the entire community turns out to look for this boy. The search takes as along as six hours.

This is a family-friendly movie that is entirely true. The special features of the DVD contain behind-the-scenes and a conversation between the actors and their real-life counterparts.

In the end, Randy learns what needs to matter most to a father and husband.

The acting is well done and the storyline is compelling. The subject matter may give you pause; I don't know how comfortable you would be with a two year old wandering off.


This DVD was provided for review by Thomas Nelson Publishing.