Have you ever wondered what heaven is really like? Or have you struggled with whether there is a purpose in a tragic time in your life such as the death of a loved one, a terminal disease, an accident that left you or a loved one unable to function as you used to?

The answers to these questions and many more like them are in the book, “Heaven Is Real: Lessons on Earthly Joy — from the Man Who Spent 90 Minutes in Heaven” (by Don Piper and Cecil Murphey, Berkley Publishing Group, August 2007). You may already be familiar with Piper, as his bestseller “90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life” (Fleming H. Revell, 2004), preceded this book.

A glance at some of the chapter titles gives you an idea of the weighty topics discussed in “Heaven is Real.” They include “The results of decisions,” “Why Doesn’t God Want Me to be Happy?” “Why Me?” “Using Pain,” “Helping and Being Helped,” “Not the Life I Would Have Chosen,”“Learning Contentment,” … and many other troubling questions we often have.

Throughout the book, Piper uses the analogy of crossing bridges and how that action changes one’s life. He shares with readers how to move on in a new direction, what he refers to “the new normal.”

I recall a time when I was vacationing in the east. Trees, trees and more trees. For one who grew up in the Midwest where you can see for miles, it seemed as though I was hemmed in by trees for mile after mile; I could not see the landscape. After a night in Memphis, Tennessee, I drove across a bridge over the Mississippi River. Suddenly I could see for miles. What a contrast from one side of the bridge to the other.

That is somewhat like Piper’s analogy for changes in life — crossing a bridge. On the other side of the bridge, nothing will ever be the same again. On the other side, things are also sometimes much clearer. But what do we do after crossing a life-altering bridge? Suffer in our misery or accept the fact that things have changed and now we need to get on with what we can do in this new kind of life?

In his chapter on the “New Normal,” he writes that it involves setting goals for the past, present and future. He writes that we must release the past: “We can’t relive it and it’s over.” For present-time living in the new normal, Piper writes that we must determine what we want to do after we cross a bridge.

In “Heaven is Real,” Piper cites example after example of how he helped people who crossed a bridge and ended up in deep depression as he did after his accident. Because of the accident, people can identify with him and see his progress from death to a new kind life. He brings God’s healing message and shares the spiritual lessons he learned.

Piper’s ministry is now worldwide, in speaking engagements, books and a Web site. He is a full-time evangelist and a conference and retreat leader. Many lives are changed by his telling about his 90 minutes in heaven, his recovery from the accident and how God changed his ministry from pastor to “the Minster of Hope.”

If you want the full impact of Don Piper’s life and message, a must-read is “90 Minutes in Heaven.” In his first book, he recounts how the accident happened, that he was killed instantly and spent the next 90 minutes in heaven, where he was greeted by those who had gone on before him. The wonderful music he heard, how peaceful it was and its beauty are some of the aspects he recounts about the incident.

But God sent him back to earth, where he spent many months in the hospital as the doctors tried as best they could to repair his body. His head was crushed, limbs were nearly severed, no bones were left unbroken, and the steering wheel column went through his chest. Terrible pain was a daily reminder of his life now on earth, and he longed to go back to heaven. Deep depression was also a part of his daily life.

As he endured the recovery process, his mind was filled with such thoughts as: Why can’t I go back to heaven? Why did God send me back to suffer like this? What is my purpose for being here? I will never be able to do things as I did before. Now I must depend on others to do things for me, yet my life had been spent doing for others as a pastor, and I enjoyed that.

Many of us wonder some of the same things: Why does God allow me to suffer? What is my purpose for being here?

Thinking that people would not believe his account, two years passed after the accident before he mentioned his time in heaven to a friend. Once he told the story, Piper’s life changed. He had crossed a bridge. Now he had a new normal.

This book recounts the accident, his long period of recovery, his escape from depression and finding a new way to live, both physically and spiritually.

In “Heaven is Real” he shares with us the results of what is happening in his life and ministry now.

He still longs to go back to heaven but knows God has a purpose for him in the meantime. That purpose, as it should be for believers in Christ, is to live for the eternity of heaven and all of God’s glory. His goal is also to try to help as many people as he can find their way to heaven through Jesus Christ and live for him until God calls them home.

See related article: A Visit with Don Piper (December 2007)