Today is Monday, May 2nd, 2011; Karen's Korner #2056

The book "Heaven is for REAL" by Todd Burpo was recommended to me by several friends. I have just read it; now I recommend it to you!
 
It is the story of his nearly four-year-old son Colton who was very sick and in the hospital. Later, Colton would now and then relate to his parents what happened to him 'when he died and went to heaven' (four-year-old fashion). It is an easy read which I know you will enjoy.
 
Here is an excerpt from one early chapter (in part, dad was in his office and Colton was on the floor playing):
 
"'Did you know Jesus has a cousin? Jesus told me his cousin baptized him.....' I don't remember his name,"Colton said happily, 'but he was really nice.......Hey, Dad, did you know Jesus has a horse?'
 
"'A horse?'
 
"Yeah, a rainbow horse. I got to pet him. There's lots of colors......in heaven, Dad. That's where all the rainbow colors are.'"
 
"'Hey, Colton, can I ask you something else about Jesus? What did He look like?" I said.'
 
"Abruptly, Colton put down his toys and looked up at me: 'Jesus has markers. And he has brown hair and he has hair on his face,' he said, running his tiny palm around on his chin. I guessed that he didn't yet know the word beard. 'And his eyes....oh, Dad, his eyes are so pretty!....He had purple on.' As he said this, Colton put his hand on his left shoulder, moved it across his body down to his right hip then repeated the motion. 'His clothes were white, but it was purple from here to here.'
 
"Another word he didn't know:  sash."
 
""Jesus was the only one in heaven who had purple on, Dad. Did you know that?'"
 
"In Scripture, purple is the color of kings. A verse from the book of Mark flashed through my mind:  'His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.'"
 
"'And he had this gold thing on his head..........' Colton chirped on enthusiastically. He put both hands on top of his head in the shape of a circle."
 
"'Like a crown?''"
 
"'Yeah, like a crown, and it had this.....this diamond thing in the middle of it and it was kind of pink. And he had markers, Dad.'"
 
"'Like when you color a page?' (Dad inquired).'What colors are Jesus' markers?'"
 
"Red, Daddy. Jesus had red markers on him."
 
".....he stood to his feet. He held out his right hand, palm up and pointed to the center of it with his left. Then he held out his left palm and pointed with his right hand. Colton bent over and pointed to the tops of both his feet."
 
".....We know where the nails were driven when Jesus was crucified, but you don't spend a lot of time going over those gruesome facts with toddlers and preschoolers. In fact, I didn't know if my son had ever seen a crucifix. Catholic kids grow up with that image, but Protestant kids, especially young ones, just grow up with a general concept:  'Jesus died on the cross.'"
 
 

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