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Spiritual Book Review

90 Minutes in Heaven (Phenomenal Book!)

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90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper

My youngest daughter recently gave me a copy of 90 Minutes in Heaven and I read it within 2 days. It was THAT good.

Well – no…. it’s actually better. Much better.

Book Description:

The mega bestselling book that started the heaven publishing phenomenon is now a major motion picture starring Hayden Christensen and Kate Bosworth and produced by Michael Polish. Don Piper’s incredible true story continues to expand its reach to more people than ever before.

After a semi-truck collided with Don Piper’s car, he was pronounced dead at the scene. For the next ninety minutes, he experienced the glories of heaven. Back on earth, a passing minister felt led to stop and pray for the accident victim even though he was told Piper was dead. Miraculously, Piper came back to life, and the pleasure of heaven was replaced by a long and painful recovery.

This special edition of Don’s life-changing story includes a new preface from Don about the making of the movie, plus a personal update on the impact the book has had on him, his family, and the millions who have already heard his story. It also includes a note from the publisher, stories from readers, and Scriptures and quotations on heaven.

Don Piper’s account of his accident and recovery are incredibly compelling and packed with emotion. You find yourself caught every now and again between a laugh and a cry. When a book is able to move your emotions like this, it is extra special.

The most beautiful part of the story is, of course, his description of Heaven as he encountered it when he died.

When writing book reviews, as I’ve often said, I detest the thought of giving anything away. I want the reader to discover each emotion and uncover each hidden jewel as I was able to – on their own. So, yes, this book review is incredibly short (no one needs to hear me ramble on and on and on anyway!), but I do not in any way want you to misunderstand how much I want you to read this book.

I simply don’t want to give anything away because this real life story, as it is told is one of the most beautiful I have ever read and I desperately want to see it in as many hands as possible.

90 Minutes in Heaven is a book you will read cover to cover, probably more than once as you cherish the words and glimpse of Heaven forever.


90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper

Praying for Your Elephant by Adam Stadtmiller (Review of an Amazing Book!)

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Praying for Your Elephant by Adam Stadtmiller

Praying for Your Elephant

I read A LOT of books… Spiritual books, Old Hollywood Biographies, inspirational books, Agatha Christie mysteries, American History books, Ancient Egypt books, cookbooks….

You get the idea. I’m almost always seen with several books in one hand, a caffeinated beverage in the other, and a cat (or two or three) in my lap.

I always have more than one book going at once – usually 3 or 5 because my interests are all over the place. Having said that, three genres are constant:

  • Agatha Christie (I read and re-read her and have one Hercule Poirot mystery going at all times)
  • Inspirational Book
  • Old Hollywood Bio

Agatha Christie is like playtime for my brain.. I simply love everything about her mysteries. Old Hollywood books are an absolute obsession – if I’m not watching an Old Hollywood movie, I’m lost in at least one biography. As for inspirational and Spiritual books – they feed my soul.

The book you see pictured here, Praying for Your Elephant, is one of the best books of any genre I have ever read. You read that right…. I loved it that much.

Have you ever heard of the phrase “Prayer Warrior?” I have considered myself to be a Prayer Warrior for many years. This simply means that I pray day and night with the fervency and determination of a warrior who is smack in the middle of the battlefield. I pray for my family, friends, people I read about, strangers, crazy drivers who run red lights, individuals I see prayer requests for, etc. With this much praying going on and with this much on the line, I need all the inspiration I can get! Naturally, the Bible provides the bulk of said inspiration, but God uses Christian authors to further inspire and motivate.

Prayer does the salvage work of raising the sunken treasure of our lives. – Praying for Your Elephant Page 57 

This particular author, Adam Stadtmiller, has written an extraordinary book and it has taken my prayers to a whole new level. I’ve always believed in asking God for all needs – from small to large and all sizes in between. However, this book has inspired me to go further. It takes the phrase “small to large” and asks, “Why stop at large? Aim for COLOSSAL!”

Elephant-Size Colossal!

From the Back Cover:

What If Your Biggest Prayers are Too Small?

Get ready to re-ignite, re-imagine, and repurpose your prayer life while experiencing great intimacy with God. This is an invitation to identify your elephants—to name, through specific and strategic prayers, the 100 most important and audacious petitions you can imagine. These are the elephants that—if answered by God—would be game changers in your life and perhaps the world.

By supersizing your prayers and daring to ask for the big things – your elephants – you will come to know God in a way you never have, even if His answers aren’t what you expect. Dive deep into the adventure that is the prayer-filled life!

Praying for Your Elephant starts off with a bang. The author guides you into a 40 Day Prayer Challenge: Forty Days to Praying for Your Elephants. He gives you 10 suggested “categories” to create to organize your prayers and all but dares you to pray big!

My take away from this section was to pray as big as the God we’re talking to. Again, COLOSSAL comes to mind.

The book provides a chart for these categories, or you can simply write them down on paper or (my own personal approach) in a Prayer Journal. Writing prayers down helps you to see, over time, which prayers are answered and which ones may take a little longer. I have also experienced something else in my prayer journal – sometimes your prayer changes as God guides you from one destination to the next.

“There is no way that Christians in a private capacity can do so much to promote the work of God, and advance the kingdom  of Christ, as by prayer.” – Jonathan Edwards

Praying for Your Elephant is available on Amazon and I, quite frankly, could not recommend it enough. I love to tell you about books that have the potential to change your life for the better… to help you open up a whole new world… to touch you in such a way that you feel empowered to do anything you set your mind and heart to!

This is such a book and I really hope you’ll grab your copy as soon as possible. You won’t regret it. ~ Joi (“Joy”)

Find out more by visiting Praying for Your Elephant!

About the Author: Adam Stadtmiller is lead pastor at one of the San Diego’s most historic churches, La Jolla Christian Fellowship. A regular contributor to Christianity Today’s Leadership Journal, he is also the author of Give Your Kids the Keys and Discover Your Kid’s Spiritual Gifts. Adam lives in Carlsbad, California, with his wife and two daughters.

Praying for Your Elephant Quote Graphic