"90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Life and
Death" describes a horrific accident that ended the life of Reverend Don
Piper in 1989. Piper was driving on a bridge over the Trinity River near
Houston, Texas. An 18-wheeler driven by a prisoner with no license crossed the
divide and rammed Piper's compact Ford Escort head-on, at an impact speed of
110 miles per hour. Piper's Ford looked like Godzilla had stomped on it – there
is a photo in the tenth-anniversary edition of the book.
Four different medical professionals checked Piper for
signs of life, including a pulse, and pronounced him dead at the scene. They
covered his body with a tarp. They didn't even bother with an ambulance; they
ordered transportation to take his corpse to a morgue. Emergency responders
left Piper alone for ninety minutes and tended to others, none of whom were
hurt enough to go to a hospital.
Traffic was backed up. A Baptist minister got out of his
car and asked for permission to pray over Piper. Permission granted, Dick Onerecker
prayed over Piper, and began to sing a hymn. Piper began to sing with Onerecker.
Onerecker shouted to emergency responders that Piper was alive. They rushed
Piper to a hospital.
What they did not know is that Piper had spent those
ninety minutes in Heaven. The book describes Heaven very briefly. Piper says
that he did not experience what many near death experiencers report. He did not
experience leaving his body, floating above his body, or traveling down a
tunnel. Piper says that one second he was driving his car; the next second he
was in Heaven. Piper reunited with departed friends and relatives, and saw a brilliant
and beautiful light, and heard exquisite singing.
Piper did not face a decision about whether or not to
return to earth. Equally quickly and without transition, Piper was back in his
body. He says he felt no pain at first, but at a certain point in the
ambulance, he regained sensation, and the pain was so horrible he begged for
pain-killers, which the emergency personnel could not give him, for fear of
losing him. He has been in pain ever since that day in 1989.
Piper points out that four medical professionals
determined that he had died instantly in the accident, and reviewing his
injuries and the photo of the accident, it's easy to see why. Further, Piper
says that had his heart been pumping for those ninety minutes, he would have
bled to death, his injuries were so extensive. He reports that his experience
of Heaven was the most real experience he's ever had.
The bulk of the book consists of a very straight-forward
and unadorned account of Piper's recovery from the accident, and how his
Christian community responded to him. Piper's injuries were extensive. He was
in bed, flat on his back, hospitalized, for an extended period. He was placed
in an Ilizarov device to help his body replace one of his leg bones, which, it
is guessed, was ejected out of his body into the river below the bridge (since
this large bone was never found at the accident scene.)
Piper has lived with constant pain ever since the
accident, and there is much he cannot do. He reports, for example, that if
someone pats him on the back, he is likely to fall forward, because his legs
lack the structure to break his fall. He can't change the position of his elbow
or hand on one arm. If nothing else, this book speaks volumes about how much
pain people have to endure. One can't read this book without wishing that
medicine had developed better pain management.
The other prominent feature of the book is the account of
how Piper's Christian community gathered round him and supported him in
over-the-top ways. A family took in his daughter. Church members visited him
daily in the hospital. Thousands of people on prayer chains prayed for him.
Piper appears to be surrounded by one of the most supportive Christian
communities one could imagine.
What most recommends this book to me is its ordinariness.
One might think that a book about dying, going to Heaven, and returning to
earth would be chock full of arcane wisdom and complicated answers to life's
big questions. "Ninety Minutes in Heaven" is not like that at all.
"Ninety Minutes in Heaven" is a very, very
simple book. The sentences and the chapters are short. The vocabulary is very basic.
An eighth grader could read this book and not miss anything.
The scenes, conversations, and characters of "Ninety
Minutes in Heaven" are scenes, conversations and characters that you could
experience yourself. A man is in an accident. His body is mangled. He's in
horrible pain. He recognizes that he will never have the same body again. His
two sons recognize that their father will never teach them to play catch, or
fish, or dance, or fix a car. Maybe not even tie a tie. The man becomes
horribly depressed. He is sullen and he hurts those trying to help him. Even
so, his fellow parishioners refuse to give up on him, and continue to be kind
to him.
The man recovers enough that he can walk. He shows
kindness to others who have suffered the same injuries he has suffered. He
inspires those who are dying of cancer, and parents who have lost sons and
daughters in the military. He urges them to have faith in Jesus Christ. They
heed his urging, and they find peace.
That's *all* that happens in this book. Piper underplays
his experience of Heaven. He emphasizes his imperfect, painful, confusing,
mundane, earthly experience.
There's an old story. Tourists arrive in Hell. They see
tables set with exquisite, gourmet meals. Yet all the denizens of Hell are
starving. The problem is that the only forks they have are very long. Hell's
diners spear the food, but can't bring it to their mouths.
The tourists then travel to Heaven. Again, tables set
with gourmet meals. Here, the diners are fully satisfied. But! The tourists
notice that Heaven also is equipped only with very long forks! The tour guide
explains, "In Heaven, we feed each other."
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