Review of 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper

 I just finished Don Piper’s book 90 Minutes in Heaven.  I remember seeing his story on NBC’s Dateline a number of years ago and thinking this guy was speaking about an NDE, he must have been alive but was so badly mangled the paramedics couldn’t find a pulse.  Having read the book and realizing that this man endured a 110mph impact with an out of control semi in an 84 Ford Escort, there is no doubt in my mind that the paramedics encountered a corpse that January day in 1989.  So Don Piper went to heaven for a brief time and lived to tell about it.  His recounting of his experience to my thinking doesn’t far out or far-fetched.  To try to describe it here would be pointless and I would refer you to the book if such things are of great interest to you.  I found that his story answered a couple of my questions that I’ve always had about heaven and maybe  it will for you too.  What I was unprepared for was the rest of the book where he shares his story of what it was like to come back after such traumatic bodily injury.  He is quite honest about his pain, his bitterness, his depression, and his self-absorption through the whole ordeal.  But through this time the Lord surrounded him with the love of wife and family, neighbors, and a beautiful church congregation.  Through their ministrations sometimes small and sometimes great, he was to recover in time.  Like St. Paul who was also caught up to heaven after being stoned (and I am not referring to medical marijuana here), Don lives with a ‘thorn in the flesh’ of reduced mobility and chronic pain despite the years of healing.  What I thought was the key lesson (apart from being prepared to die by belonging to Jesus Christ) was that when your life is shattered by an illness, trauma, or injury, you must not allow yourself to dwell on what was lost, but what you still can do.  Embrace that and live that to the fullest is the author’s advice.  In his case, he has found new purpose for life despite the fact that he no longer is the active man he once was.  He has certainly comforted many who are struggling with the loss of a loved one, but he has also found that he is able to speak great encouragement to people struggling to come back from an accident or living with excruciating pain.  Although he continues to help others, he also makes it clear that he would have preferred to have remained dead and in heaven and looks forward to returning.  Considering the impressive 1 out of 1 statistics on death, this is a word of encouragement we all need to hear.