“He has the most beautiful eyes.” — Colton Burpo

     

    When three year old Colton Burpo suffered a burst appendix and lay near death on the operating table, his father raged at God: “Where are you now, Lord? Why are you taking my son away?” God overlooked the young pastor’s angry words and miraculously healed Colton.

         Months later, in a casual conversation, Colton remarked, “I sat in Jesus’ lap and the angels sang to me.” Todd Burpo thought perhaps his son had dreamed about Jesus and the angels, but in the months that followed, the little boy described a short visit to heaven, and Todd realized that what his son described was indeed very real.

         “I went up out of my body,” Colton told has dad. “When I was with Jesus, I looked down and I could see the doctor working on my body, and you were in a little room on your knees, and mommy was praying and talking on the phone.”

         Over the next three years, the little boy continued to talk about heaven, telling about the things he had seen and the people he had met. Colton described heaven as a place that needs no lights, because God and Jesus light up heaven.     He saw many children there, and one of them was his sister. Colton was surprised because he had never been told about his mother’s miscarriage. He met his grandfather who had died decades before Colton’s birth. He described Jesus wearing a white robe with a purple sash. He said Jesus has “red markers” on his hands and feet, and that He has the most beautiful eyes.

         After Colton’s description of Jesus, Todd and his wife searched book stores and churches for pictures and paintings of Jesus. As they showed them to Colton they would ask, “Is that how He looks?” Colton would study the pictures and then say, “No.”

         While searching for a likeness of Jesus, Colton’s family learned of a report CNN had run. It was the story of a twelve year old Lithuanian-American girl named Akiane Kramarik. The report described her as a child prodigy who, though she was from a non-Christian family, had begun having visions of heaven at the age of four.     Her descriptions of heaven sounded remarkably like Colton’s. The report said that Akiane was a self-taught artist who had painted angelic-looking figures, idyllic landscapes, and a picture of a man who was clearly meant to be Christ.         When Akiane described Jesus, she said, “He’s very masculine, really strong and big, and His eyes are just beautiful.” When Colton saw Akiane’s painting of the man with beautiful eyes he said, “Dad, that one’s right. Jesus looks like that!”

         Perhaps you have read Heaven Is For Real by Todd Burpo or have seen the movie based on the book. On Holy Week, it was a treat for me to reread this book and rekindle a child-like vision of my Savior. But for the “red markers” on His hands and feet, I could never see heaven as these children did.

    “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” – Jesus of Nazareth