What is your concept of 'Heaven'?

Dan’s Note: This post was written some time ago, and for some reason I never published it. It’s a short one, but about a very good book…

The story revolves around a man named Eddie. Eddie works at an amusement park called Ruby Pier. The story begins on Eddie’s 83rd birthday, about an hour before he dies trying to help a someone on a faulty ride.

What transpires during the meat of the story is Eddie’s time in Heaven. What Eddie discovers is that Heaven is not like most people imagine. Instead, when a person dies, the first thing that they experience in Heaven is interacting with five people who change their life. In Eddie’s case, the five people he meets surprise him – some he knew, others he didn’t remember or had no way of knowing.

Mitch Albom is brilliant. In a book not quite 200 pages thick, he weaves a tale of a man that is so common and ordinary, you begin to feel that he is your very own grandfather. The history of each person he encounters and how their fate was entwined with his own is a perfect example of how our lives and actions affect those around us. Although this book is fiction, it nevertheless gave me a reason to re-think what I envision Heaven to be.

I can’t wait to get my grubby little hands on a copy of his latest book.