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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. When talking about a funeral, why did Colton become quite distraught?

2. Why was it decided that Colton should go to the emergency room?

3. The parents hold on to what hope?

4. What color did Jesus wear?

5. Usually he saw it where?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Todd rage at God? Should he have done this? Why or why not?

2. What might Todd mean by the shadow of death?

3. Colton said he did homework in heaven. What kind of homework might this have been? Why?

4. What was significant about the donations that came in?

5. How did the Burpos realize something unusual has happened to their son?

6. What sign did the technician give that made the Burpos believe something was seriously wrong with Colton?

7. How did Colton react at the funerals? Why?

8. How did a broken leg severely affect the family's finances?

9. What had happened on the last Burpo family vacation in March? How was this affecting their preparations for their current trip?

10. How was life difficult after the surgery?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Colton panics at a funeral.

Part 1) Describe Colton's behavior at a funeral after his trip to heaven. Why might he act this way? What does this say about God and heaven?

Part 2) How might this part of the book affect a non-believer? Why? How does it affect your beliefs about heaven and who goes to heaven?

Part 3) What other details of Colton's story tell what one must do to get to heaven? What does this say about those of other faiths? Do you agree with this? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Four months after the surgery, the family realizes something is unusual about Colton.

Part 1) What do they realize is unusual about him? How do they discover this? Why had they not noticed before?

Part 2) What might have been possible, logical explanations for his experiences? Is it possible that all of this took place in Colton's mind? Why or why not?

Part 3) What might be the reason for Colton's experience, when others have either died on the operating table momentarily and lived, yet did not experience anything remotely similar to what Colton experienced?

Essay Topic 3

Before being diagnosed with appendicitis, Colton is misdiagnosed.

Part 1) How is Colton's appendicitis first diagnosed? How is it misdiagnosed again? What leads to the wrong diagnoses? How do they affect Colton and his family? How different would this story be if Colton's appendicitis had been diagnosed correctly the first time?

Part 2) If given the chance, would the Burpo family go back and change the events of this story so that Colton was diagnosed correctly the first time? Why or why not?

Part 3) When you have suffered from set-backs, illness, or challenges that led to positive outcomes, would you have to change the past so those challenges never occurred? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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