"The Call" by Matt Kennon

This song really touched me when I first listened to it and it gave me chills. This song starts out with this boy who parks his truck down a dirt road and was ready to end his life.

"Today was gonna be the day
He'd already wrote the note
He parked that Chevrolet
At the end of that dead end road

Had his finger on the trigger
Just about to end everything
He was taking one last long breath
When he heard his cell phone ring"

He then gets a call from his buddy right before he pulls the trigger and says,

"His best friend said, "man where you been?"
We're headin down to the lake this weekend
You better not miss it
Cause buddy I swear
It won't be the same
If you ain't there
I told that girl that you like so much
You were coming along and her eyes lit up
I better let you go
Man I really hope
I didn't catch you in the middle of anything
He said you kinda did
But I don't mind at all
I'm glad you called"

Then the setting changes to two 18 year old teenager who are kissing in the back seat of a car and let it go to far.

"Then another tale down the road
In the back seat of the car
Two 18 year olds
Had let a kiss go to far

He said how we gonna have this child
We are both headed off to school
He convinced her late one night
There's only one thing to do"

The boy convinced the girl that they were going off to college and they couldn't afford to have a kid at the time and she should just have an abortion.

"She was scared to death in that waiting room
When the nurse asked how far along are you
She said 5 weeks and just about then
Her phone lite up and his call came in
He said baby I was wrong about everything
I've already bought you a diamond ring
We're gonna start a life, would you be my wife?
Boy or girl, pink or blue, yeah either way
All she could say, as she felt those tear drops fall
I'm so glad you called"

The last part of this song says:

If someone you know, is waiting on your mind
That needs a friend on the other end of the line
Don't hesitate, what you say may seem so small
But who knows, they might be, glad you called

So make the call.

I truly truly LOVEEEE this song! It really hits you in your heart when you hear it! Sometimes when a friend of yours is going through a tough time, all they may need is just a few words to cheer them up. If you haven't heard this song, you need to at least listen to it once!

Heaven Is For Real

Okay, before I start telling you about this AMAZING book, I would like to say that whether or not you read a lot or don't read ever... I rarely ever read and this book had me up until 3 A.M. under a light engaged in the story. Now that I got that out of the way I can tell you what this book is about.

Heaven Is For Real starts out introducing the dad, Todd Burpo; a pastor for Wesleyan church in Imperial, Nebraska. He has been going through a handful of bad luck with injuries resulting in a financial setback and a leave of absence in his job. He is on the right path to recovery when what began as a fun family road trip to the Butterfly Pavilion in Denver ended in a nightmare for Todd Burpo and his wife, Sonja. Later that evening after dining out with other church friends, when two children, Cassie and Colton started throwing up. They thought it was something they ate and would pass, while that may of looked true for Cassie, it wasn't for Colton. He continuously kept throwing up every few hours. They ended their trip short and rushed him back home to Imperial hospital where he stayed for weeks running test after test. Both of Colton's parents asked if it could be his appendix, but the Doctor immediately rejected that it could possibly be that. They couldn't seem to find a cure for what was wrong with him. Some days Colton would be fine and on his way to recovery and then hours later he would get sick again. It was all just a continuous cycle. Todd, being a Pastor has traveled to several hospitals to send a good-bye prayer to many of the ill. One day he walked in and was shocked to see the shadow of death cross over his 4 year old son's body. He became angry with the doctors and checked out Colton and brought him to another medical center. Here they told him he must have a emergency surgery for a busted appendix. His parents were shocked that this whole time their son was slowly slipping away, it was the one thing the other doctor swore that it wouldn't be. Mr. Burpo just about lost it, “Where are you God? Is this how you treat your pastors? Is it worth it to even serve you?” (Heaven pg. 94) he shouted. After his surgery, Colton made a remarkable recovery and was released to go home. Four months had passed and everything seemed to be going back to normal when they passed by the hospital and his father jokingly asked would you like to visit the hospital and Colton replied, "You know Dad, the angels sang to me while I was there." His father was shocked by his son's answer and began asking him more. They didn't know whether Sunday school was doing a good job of teaching their son about Heaven or what was going on, so they ignored his comment. Months later he continued making more comments about heaven like:

• He sat in Jesus’ lap
• He met his sister who died in his mother’s womb (whom his parents had never told him about)
• He saw John the Baptist
• There is a coming battle with Satan (he is a futurist!)
• There are thousands of colors we have never seen
• He met his great granddad (who told him things about his father that his father had never told him)
• He saw Jesus’ “marks” on his hands and feet
• All the people had wings of various sizes (including Colton) and flew around (except Jesus who moved up and down as if on an escalator)
• Jesus had the most beautiful eyes, a beard, a white gown, a purple sash, and a crown
• All the people had a light above their head (halo, I think)
• Jesus sits on a throne at the right hand of God and Gabriel is on the left
• He sat by God the Holy Spirit (who he could not describe) and explained to his dad that God is a Trinity
• It never gets dark in heaven because God the Father and God the Son are the lights
• There were all kinds of animals everywhere
• Nobody is old in heaven and no one wears glasses
• Jesus “shoots” power down from heaven to his father while he is preaching
• The gates to heaven were made of gold and pearls
• He was actually only there for three minutes (timelessness in heaven?)

These are all some of the bizarre things today that we have no clue whether or not are true (In my opinion I believe every bit of this is true). This book is based on a true story and Colton Burpo and his family were on T.V. recently. This book really hit me hard because I all the time am so curious about the reality of Heaven and no one can actually know the truth until you go there one day. I strongly advise reading this book because it gave me chills the whole time he described Heaven.