My Short Adventure with the Famous Mr. Piper

I met Don Piper today, and I don't know if to believe him or not.

I should probably start at the beginning with this. Don Piper, New York Times Best-selling List author who has sold 1 million copies, inadvertantly dropped into my life in April when I heard a speaker at the Calvin College Writer's Conference say that his book was one of the most widely requested Christian books on the market. I immediately decided that a book like that was not my style--I don't want to be spoiled with other people's perceptions of what heaven is like!--so I pushed him and his book aside in his mind.

Three months later, I'm laying on my grandparents' couch in Kansas when I see this book sitting on the coffee table. 90 Minutes in Heaven. I'm not particularly interested in watching the Cards lose another game to the Cubs, so I pick up the book and start reading through it. I read the first four chapters until Don Piper comes back from the dead (he died in a horrific car accident and came back to life after 90 minutes). Then I put the book down and roll my eyes.

Why was I so frustrated? First of all, his perceptions of Heaven were not exactly what I wanted to hear. His old friends and family were standing at the pearly gates, smiling and being merry. His grandfather looked just like his grandfather did when he (Don) was a little boy: gray hair and a big toothy smile. I didn't really want to hear that. Does that mean that, when I die (which will hopefully be at an old age) I'll look old? Not exactly what a girl wants to hear, to be frank. Also, we would be singing songs and smiling all the time. I love to sing a good hymn and I am also one to have a perpetual smile on my face, but I can't really see that singing all the time would be my best way to express my love to God. I was thinking more along the lines of writing something.

Anyway, I ranted and raved to my parents on the way back to Godfrey (I'm sure that they would have preferred that I watched the Cards game instead of reading) about the book. Rachel had brought it back to read, so I figured I'd be able to get another good dose of Piper at a later date.

When I was driving to an interview for my internship, I saw that the Abundant Life Community Church sign read "Don Piper: 90 Minutes in Heaven visiting in July." I almost slammed on the brakes. A best-selling author in ALTON? I could hardly believe it.

But it was true. I found out later that he would be coming on the following Sunday. When I went into the news room on Thursday, I didn't hear any buzz about the guy at all. So I mentioned the story idea to my editor who told me that maybe I should consider writing the story. I was very excited, until I found out that Vicki Bennington had also written a story and that both of our stories came out on the same day. Yikes. My editor told me to write a follow-up story nevertheless.

So, I marched my high-heel wearing, dress-sporting behind into Abundant Life today and waited for Piper's sermon to intrigue me.

I was supposed to be writing an article, but I already knew that it wouldn't focus around him as much as it would around the people who attended the event. So, I mentally constructed what I would say at said interview, knowing that I wanted him to answer my personal questions about his ministry.

Turns out his sermon did most of that for me. I was searching for someone who was passionate about what he did, and I can't say that I found that.

Don and his (cute) son Chris travel 300 days out of the year to different communities speaking about what happened to Don. So, it would make sense that his retelling of his horrific accident would sound canned and rehearsed to a tee. And it was. He told the cold hard facts of his death as if he were telling you how to pay taxes or mow the lawn. He had no passion, because he's said it a thousand times before. He was cliche in his assertions about faith and about his death, too.

I will say that some of his stories brought me to tears, though. The girl Andrea whose leg was severed by a Jet Ski really got me. I admire Don for going to her bedside--even if it was in the hospital that he had his surgeries, the hospital he hated most--to comfort her and tell her that he knew what she was going through. I also felt bad for the young soldier who died in Iraq that he talked about.

But, it was his description of Heaven that really got my attention. Like a good speaker, he kept the most interesting part of his sermon (namely his experiences in death) until the end. Hearing him actually describe Heaven brought it into reality for me. The vibrant lights of heaven, the strong Heaven-ly aroma that permeated the air, and the sounds: he seemed authentic in his beliefs about it.

Then it occured to me that, perhaps God had sent him to Heaven. I'd disregarded his beliefs and assertions simply because I could hardly believe that God would let someone see the Heavenly gates and return to earth to tell about it. But I looked around the room and I realized that perhaps God was ministering through him so that other people could come to an understanding that GOD IS REAL and that there is a heaven out there.

I talked to Letha, a Catholic woman from Hardin, who is thoroughly convinced now that there is a God. "That book just reaffirmed it for me," she said.

One of my friends told me yesterday that he thinks that the only thing we need to believe is that Jesus Christ died for our sins. Religion doesn't matter. And I tend to believe that now. I can see that, despite Don Piper's altar calls at the end of his sermon and his moments of complete cliche overload, Don really could have seen Heaven. He saw that what he believed before he died really was truth. He saw that Jesus is the way and the truth and the light. Who cares about semantics and the non-essentials. As long as we believe that there is a Heaven and that there surely is a Hell and that Jesus Christ is our Savior, I would say that we have it right.

Anyway, I was more nervous than anything when I interviewed him. I asked him if he'd enjoyed his stay in Illinois (stupid question for my article) and then I went into my own questions. Here's the highlights in my opinion:


What do you say to skeptics who don't believe what you preach?

"I'd say that I don't blame them. Before my accident, I'd heard about stories of people who had died and gone to heaven. They just don't seem real unless you go through them, so I don't blame people who don't believe me. But what I went through when I died is more real to me than this transient and changing physical world we have right now. If humankind were erased from the planet and a thousand years were to pass by, the only thing that would remain of our existence is the Pyramids. Can you believe that? I mean, this physical world will be gone before we know it. But the heavenly one will last forever."

So, how do you keep yourself from becoming stagnant in your work?

"I don't (get stagnant). I don't tell the same story twice, first of all. You can ask anyone who's been to one of my conferences or heard one of my sermons. I try to tell 15-20 different stories at eveyr place. I don't want this to become routine. I try to be as real and as genuine with people as possible."

He ended our short interview by telling me that he "is grateful for what I do." Whatever that is supposed to mean is beyond me. Perhaps he was referring to the fact that I'm a reporter? Or maybe it's just another cliche saying.

I don't know how he does it, though. There are so many people he has to listen to and talk with, and then he has to remain calm and happy while doing it! Incredible. I do not envy him, no matter if he is sincere or not. I admire him in that respect: traveling around and keeping a Christian-like attitude. He must spend a lot of time in prayer.

So, that is Mr. Don Piper of 90 Minutes in Heaven fame. Nice man, great dresser, yet I still cannot figure out if I believe him. I believe Heaven, but as for his personal sincerity, I guess I won't know until we both get to Heaven.