Kids & Family
11 Years After 'Heaven,' What Life is Like for the Burpo Family
The movie, in stores July 22, is about a real-life boy who says he went to Heaven and met Jesus during surgery. We spoke with the family behind the film about how it can help start a discussion in your town.
As a pastor in Nebraska, Todd Burpo speaks every day about faith and the afterlife. Now he hopes the film adaptation of his book, βHeaven is for Real,β can ignite further discussion in communities across the country.
If you arenβt familiar, βHeaven is for Realβ tells the story of Burpoβs son, Colton, who said he left his body during an emergency appendectomy around age 4 and visited Heaven. His parents, Todd and Sonja, believed the story after Colton described details about his great-grandfather and miscarried sister about whom he didnβt know.
βI think this movieβs real strength is that itβs a conversation starter,β Todd Burpo said. βI think we have people who would never join us in a conversation about God in a church, but to see in a film that there is a Heaven, I think this movie is a great medium to share the story and get people talking.β
For the Burpo family, it's a conversation that has been going on for the past 11 years. They discuss what it's been like to see their story played out on the big screen in the Walmart exclusiveΒ The Burpos: 11 Heavenly Years Later.Β
In this bonus footage, they say a few events were sped up for the sake of the movie, and the kids aren't big fans of the extra kissing in the movieβbut the message of the film stays true to the book.Β
"I think they really showed pastors are real people, pastors' wives are real people, and we struggle with things but we can still get through them," Sonja Burpo says in a clip of the bonus footage.Β
The incredible claim the title suggests is of course divisive, but Burpo said there are messages in the film to which anyone can relate.
βI think this is a movie about family,β he said. βItβs a real mom and a real dad and theyβre going to see us struggle, theyβre going to see us hurt and work through things. But theyβll also see that weβre honest about faithβfaith doesnβt mean you have answers all the time.β
In addition to family, Sonja Burpo believes the film can be an inspiration to anyone experiencing loss. Her miscarriage was the βbiggest hurt,β she said, but out of that sheβs been able to help others.
βWeβve all lost somebody and everyone will lose somebody, and people wrestle with this whole idea of whether Heaven is for real,β she said. βMany times we think weβre the only one in the world with a problem, but weβre not. We can pray for each other and support each other.β
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While the Burpo family maintains the validity of Coltonβs story, they recognize there are skeptics and people who wonβt be convinced. Todd Burpo said he hopes people will still be able to take something away from the film and use it to discuss faith and be good people in their communities.
That sense of community was something Colton said he experienced while in Heaven. Besides meeting family members who had passed, talking with angels and seeing Jesus ride a multicolored horse, Colton shared this about the community in Heaven:
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βItβs a lot like Earth in many ways, but everybody there would help you out just because they wanted to help you out and not because of their own interests,β he said. βSo thatβs a pretty good community.β
This story originally appeared on Patch on April 11 and has been updated to include information about the bonus footage. ItΒ is sponsored by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's "Heaven is for Real," on Blu-ray and DVDΒ July 22.
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