Week 1: Introduction & Background — The Burpo Family

1.Todd Burpo is introduced not just as a pastor, but as a man who works multiple jobs — garage-door installer, volunteer firefighter, wrestling coach — to support his family. How does this portrait of an ordinary, hardworking father shape the way you receive the story he's about to tell?

2.Before reading this book, what was your working picture of heaven? Where did that picture come from — the Bible, hymns, movies, funerals, or somewhere else?

3.The Burpo family endures a string of painful events in 2003 — Todd's broken leg, kidney stones, a hyperplastic breast mass — all before Colton's crisis. Todd reflects that this season felt like a spiritual assault. Have you ever experienced a season where hardships seemed to pile on? What did that do to your faith?

4.Sonja Burpo is portrayed as a steady, faith-filled counterpart to Todd's more emotionally demonstrative personality. How does the dynamic between Todd and Sonja reflect a healthy model of processing fear and grief together as a couple or community?

5.Todd describes the moment he realized Colton's appendix had ruptured and the gravity of what they were facing. What does the raw fear of losing a child reveal about what we actually believe — versus what we say we believe — about heaven and eternal life?

6.Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as 'the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.' As you begin this book, where would you honestly place yourself on the spectrum from doubt to confident hope regarding heaven?