Don Piper - 90 Minutes in Heaven. My True Story

2004, 2009 by Don Piper

Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com

Ebook edition created 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written permission of the publisher and copyright owners. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

ISBN 978-1-4412-0706-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Scripture is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version . NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Interior illustrations by Tim Foley.

To my children,
Nicole, Christopher, and Joseph
all great gifts from God

CONTENTS

PREFACE

I love kids. They are so full of life. They are all about possibilities. But they are also all about discovery.

Not long after we arrive here on earth, we find out that we dont get to stay. A classmate dies. A grandmother passes away. We might even lose a brother or sister, a mom or dad. Thats what happened to sisters Riley and Tyler Knight. Riley and Tylers parents were going to have two more children, but those children did not live. Their parents, Deidre and Jud Knight, are my agents who help me get my books published, including this one.

Not long ago my son, Chris, and I were to meet with the Knight family at a hotel in Jacksonville, Florida, to talk about new books I am writing. On the way to meet me, Deidre and Riley met a famous person in the elevator, comedian Chris Rock. Riley was so excited to meet such a famous person.

But Riley had some questions she wanted to ask me when she got off the elevator. Her mother had told her about my book 90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death & Life. After meeting me, she said, Ive met two famous people todayChris Rock and Don Piper! Well, Chris Rock is famous. Im not so sure about me. But something did happen to me that didnt happen to Chris Rock. I died and went to heaven, and then I was able to come back!

Because I went to heaven, Riley wanted to know what heaven is like. While we ate breakfast together, I told her about the many beautiful and amazing things I had seen, and that one day she would see the children in heaven that she had never met here on earth.

I receive many letters, phone calls, and emails from kids like you who want to know about heaven. Many of them have friends or family members who have died. These children want to know if they will see their loved ones again, and they want to know what they will see and do in heaven when they get there someday. I have tried to answer those questions in this special edition called 90 Minutes in Heaven: My True Story.

But kids dont write or call me just to ask about heaven. Many young people want to know about how to help friends and loved ones who are sick. Some ask me about problems at school. And some are very worried about their parents breaking up or making ends meet. One twelve-year-old recently wrote me to ask about faith in dark times.

Often these letters are sad. Everyone, no matter what age they are, needs hope. This book will help you have hopehope for eternal life, and hope for a better life now!

God has blessed me with wonderful parents, a beautiful wife, three very fine children, and a new granddaughter named Carlee. I also have brothers and many friends. I love these people here on earth, but I want to be with them all in heaven someday. And though you and I have not even met, I would like to see you there too.

As you will discover from reading this book, I went to heaven when I died because I knew the way to heaven. Jesus is the way! I came to accept Jesus as my Savior when I was not much older than you are. And I found that in heaven there is no pain or loneliness or sadness or tears or darkness or failure. Heaven is a perfect place. You will love it there. (Riley Knight, I will see you there, and well meet our other brothers and sisters who loved the Lord too.)

Yes, heaven is real, and Jesus is the way.

Don Piper
March 2009

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to thank Lonnie Hull DuPont for helping me make this book kid-friendly. And I want to thank Baker Publishing Group, Revell, and Dr. Vicki Crumpton for caring about kids so much that they would publish a book like this one. I also thank you for reading this book. May God give you a long and happy life.

PROLOGUE

I died on January 18, 1989.

Paramedics reached the scene of the accident within minutes. They found no pulse and declared me dead. They covered me with a tarp so that onlookers wouldnt stare at me while they attended to the injuries of the others. I was completely unaware of the paramedics or anyone else around me.

Immediately after I died, I went straight to heaven.

While I was in heaven, a preacher came on the accident scene. Even though he knew I was dead, he rushed to my lifeless body and prayed for me. Despite the scoffing of the emergency medical technicians (EMTs), he refused to stop praying.

At least ninety minutes after the EMTs pronounced me dead, God answered that mans prayers.

I returned to earth.

This is my story.

The Baptist General Convention of Texas holds annual statewide conferences. In January 1989, I attended.

The conference started on Monday and was scheduled to end on Wednesday. On Tuesday night, I joined a friend named J. V. Thomas for a long walk. We walked and talked for about an hour despite the cold, rainy weather. J. V. remembers that time well.

So do I, but for a different reason: it would be the last time I would ever walk normally.

On Wednesday morning the weather got worse. A steady rain fell.

I had packed the night before, so everything was stowed in my red Ford Escort. As soon as we finished, I said good-bye to all my friends and got into my car to drive back to the church where I was on staff, South Park Baptist Church in Alvin, near Houston.

When I started the engine, I remembered that three weeks earlier I had received a traffic ticket for not wearing a seat belt. A Texas trooper had caught me. Until I received the ticket, I had not usually worn a seat belt, but after that I changed my ways.

So I fastened my seat belt. That small act would be a crucial decision.

There were two ways to get back to Houston and on to Alvin. Each choice is probably about the same distance. That morning I decided to take the Gulf Freeway.

Many times since then Ive thought about my decision to take the Gulf Freeway. Its amazing how we pay no attention to simple decisions at the time theyre made. Yet even the smallest decisions often hold significant consequences. This was one of those choices.

I didnt have to drive far before I reached Lake Livingston, a large, beautiful lake. Spanning it is a two-lane highway built up above the level of the lake and extremely narrow. I would have to drive across a long expanse of water on that narrow road until I reached the other side.

At the end of the highway across the lake is a bridge. Immediately after the bridge, the road rises sharply. It was a dangerous bridge, and as I would learn later, several accidents had occurred on it.