After a burst appendix nearly cost 4-year-old Colton Burpo his life in 2003, his parents were thankful just to have him alive and well. But when he opened up about his brush with death a few months later, they were shocked when he described a very vivid trip to heaven, and spoke of matters about which he had no apparent way of knowing.<\/p>\n
During an automobile trip, when Sonja Burpo asked him about his memories of being in the hospital, little Colton replied: \u201cYes, Mommy, I remember \u2014 that\u2019s where the angels sang to me.\u201d A sweet answer, to be sure \u2014 but then Colton made his parents\u2019 jaws drop when he told them about sitting in Jesus\u2019 lap, watching his parents while he lay seemingly near death, and meeting his great-grandfather.<\/p>\n
But most poignantly, Colton described meeting a sibling in heaven \u2014 even though he had no way of knowing that his mother had miscarried two years before he was born, since his parents had never told him.<\/p>\n
Jesus And John The Baptist<\/strong> Appearing live on TODAY Monday with Sonja and Colton, who\u2019s now 11, Todd told Matt Lauer he understands that naysayers may believe Colton\u2019s story is a little too heavenly to be true \u2014 initially, so did he and Sonja. \u201cAt first we were surprised; we never anticipated to talk to our son about these things,\u201d Todd told Matt Lauer.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t share at first, and then once we started sharing, people were amazed,\u201d Sonja Burpo added. \u201cThey were encouraged by what we were sharing with them.\u201d Little Colton nearly didn\u2019t make it: He lay in a hospital bed for 17 days. When he finally rallied, the family rejoiced \u2014 but they were floored when, months later, the boy began matter-of-factly describing what he had experienced when he was in between life and death: seeing Jesus dressed in royal purple, meeting John the Baptist, having angels sing to him to ease his anxiety.<\/p>\n The Burpos believed these were things Colton could have gleaned from his Bible studies. But he also told his mother he saw her talking on the phone in another room while he was having surgery, and saw his father praying in a small room, all while he was seated in Jesus\u2019 lap.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat caught my attention was he could tell me where I was while he was in surgery,\u201d Todd told Lauer. \u201cThe surgeon couldn\u2019t tell me that, the nurses couldn\u2019t, my wife couldn\u2019t tell me where I was praying. But he could tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n Shocking Revelation<\/strong> Colton said that everyone in heaven has wings. On Monday, he described his great-grandfather \u201cPops\u201d as being \u201cvery big, huge wings, curly hair, a big smile, and he was very nice.\u201d<\/p>\n But the real shocker came when Colton told his mother, \u201cMommy, I have two sisters.\u201d Sonja told her son that he had to be referring to his oldest sister, Cassie, and his cousin Traci, but he responded: \u201cNo \u2014 I have two sisters. You had a baby die in your tummy, didn\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n Sonja told Lauer the family had never uttered a word about the miscarriage to Colton \u2014 and what\u2019s more, they never even learned the sex of their miscarried child. \u201cIt was a private hurt that we didn\u2019t even share with our friends,\u201d Sonja said, adding Colton\u2019s revelation was at first \u201cshocking, but then a relief that she\u2019s OK, which we didn\u2019t know she was a she.\u201d<\/p>\n In a subsequent TODAY segment Monday, Sonja filled in Colton\u2019s description of his meeting with his sister: \u201cHe told us what she looked like, and she wouldn\u2019t stop hugging him. And she doesn\u2019t have a name.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen he told us about his sister in heaven, that we hadn\u2019t told him about, [it was] another one of those \u2018holy cow\u2019 moments \u2014 OK, he can\u2019t make this stuff up, he can\u2019t invent this; no memory was planted,\u201d Todd told Lauer. \u201cBut the peace that came over us, and the healing, like, \u2018Wow, I have a daughter in heaven waiting for me\u2019 \u2014 I think a lot of people need that type of hope and healing, too.<\/p>\n And I think that\u2019s what a lot of people are finding when they hear Colton\u2019s testimony, to know what they have to look forward to.\u201d<\/p>\n When Lauer asked Colton what heaven looked like, the 11-year-old replied, \u201cWell, there\u2019s a lot of color. There are a lot of people and a lot of angels.\u201d<\/p>\n In his second segment later on Monday, Colton gave Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb some additional details \u2014 such as the fact that there are no old people in heaven. \u201cNobody wears glasses, [and] you\u2019re in like your 20s, 30s.\u201d<\/p>\n Todd Burpo told The New York Times that the family is donating much of the money they make from the book sales. As for Colton, he\u2019s mostly happy his story is helping people.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are getting blessed, and they\u2019re going to have healing from their hurts,\u201d the boy told the New York Times. \u201cI\u2019m happy for that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After a burst appendix nearly cost 4-year-old Colton Burpo his life in 2003, his parents were thankful just to have him alive and well. But when he opened up about his brush with death a few months later, they were shocked when he described a very vivid trip to heaven, and spoke of matters about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4838\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nTodd Burpo began telling of his son\u2019s heaven-sent visions from the pulpit of the Crossroads Wesleyan Church in Imperial, Neb., where he serves as pastor. Word of mouth spread, and the family landed a book deal. The book \u2014 \u201cHeaven Is for Real,\u201d written by Todd with co-writer Lynn Vincent \u2014 has become a best-seller, with some 1.5 million copies in print since its release in November.<\/p>\n
\nColton was stricken with appendicitis shortly before his fourth birthday. Family guilt was heavy \u2014 for five days he lay getting sicker and sicker with what the family believed was stomach flu, which had previously hit Colton\u2019s older sister Cassie.<\/p>\n
\nColton also spoke of meeting a long-departed relative in heaven, telling NBC News: \u201cI was just sitting by the Holy Spirit and then this guy comes up to me and says, \u2018Are you Todd\u2019s son?\u2019 I say yes, and he says, \u2018Well, I\u2019m his grandfather.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n