Several years ago I was at a church and getting ready to go into a Bible Study.  A gentleman about 60 years of age approached me and said, "You know, it is all true what the Bible says about Heaven!"  Surprised at that sudden revelation from a stranger, I looked deeply into  into his eyes and asked, "What do you mean?"  He replied, "I had a heart attack recently and was dead for some minutes.  I had no breathing or heart beat.  At that time, I went there and saw it all."

John 14:1-3 (King James Bible)  Mansions in heaven

Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.

2 Corinthians 5:1-8  (Living Bible)  Our heavenly bodies by Paul the Apostle

For we know that when this tent we live in now is taken down—when we die and leave these bodies—we will have wonderful new bodies in heaven, homes that will be ours forevermore, made for us by God himself, and not by human hands.  How weary we grow of our present bodies.  That is why we look forward eagerly to the day when we shall have heavenly bodies which we shall put on like new clothes.  For we shall not be merely spirits without bodies.  Now we look forward with confidence to our heavenly bodies, realizing that every moment we spend in these earthly bodies is time spent away from our eternal home with Jesus.  And we are not afraid, but are quite content to die, that then we will be at home with the Lord.

Since the recent passing of my parent's from this world to the next I have thought a lot about heaven.  I am so grateful that our heavenly father and his son have prepared a place for us to continue our lives in our new heavenly bodies.  I am so glad my parents are now together in heaven with the Lord and their many relatives and friends that are there rather than still suffering.

Although stories of near death or "death" experiences do not prove the existence of heaven, I think they do tend to bolster our belief in it.  But when it all comes down to it, it is a matter of faith and belief in what the Bible has told us.  It certainly is a comforting thing for me to have that belief because, to quote a good friend of mine who I am sure is in heaven now, Ray Farmer, "No one is getting out of here alive."

Even though it sounds so obvious, one of the biggest lessons I learned from mom and dad leaving and going to heaven is how we come into this world with nothing and we leave it the same way.  All those material things we have accumulated on earth that seem so important when a person is alive have absolutely no value any more.  When you find yourself going through every one of your parent's things it really hits home. 

A very interesting book I read recently on a near death experience is 90 Minutes in Heaven:  A True Story of Death and Life by Don Piper.  It  is available from amazon.com.  I would really recommend it.