In the spring of 2003, 4-year-old Colton Burpo underwent an emergency appendectomy. Over the next few months, following the surgery, Colton slowly tells his family of his miraculous out-of-body experience.

Colton revealed that he left his body, during the operation, and flew to Heaven. He described the people he met, including Jesus, and was able to tell his family what they were doing in the hospital while he was unconscious.

His amazing story was written in a best-selling book titled Heaven is For Real, narrated by Colton’s minister father Todd Burpo, published in 2010. The book is now being adapted into a film that is scheduled to be released on Easter (April 20).

While Colton, now 14-years-old, says he doesn’t have dreams about his experience, he does say that he remembers his trip to Heaven vividly, but not the events leading up to his hospital stay. “Well, my hospital experience and all the events leading up to not really, but with heaven, I still remember a lot of what I saw,” Colton said, during an interview with his family on Tuesday’s episode of the Today show.

When the idea of a movie was pitched to the family, Todd said that they wanted the producers to stay as true to the story as possible, and keep the integrity of the story intact. “The biggest thing for us was the integrity of the story and they’ve kept their word to do that,” Todd said. “When you see Greg Kinnear and especially this little boy, Connor, you’re going to see, I think, the best representation of what I saw 11 years ago.”

Colton Burpo told @KathieLGifford @HodaKotb he still remembers trip to heaven @HeavenIsForReal http://t.co/OkCqaqtw8u pic.twitter.com/hMRcfjAen8

— Kathie Lee and Hoda (@klgandhoda) April 15, 2014

Todd and Colton told Kathy Lee and Hoda that the movie did a good job of depicting Heaven, but it is actually much better than what you will see in the film. “I think when it comes to real life , especially the scene where greg and kelly are fighting with each other in the kitchen, they know us pretty good, but, you know, I think the one scene about heaven, that’s Colton ‘s saying about the movie, he’s like, ‘you know, I know they did the best job they can, but heaven is so much better than that,'” Todd explained. “That’s good news for all of us. when you see — you’re going to see a good depiction, but for you it watch the movie and realize it is so much better, what a great thing to walk out and know that.”

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