In 1989 Don Piper was a young minister from Alvin who was attending a seminar with many other preachers on the north shore of Lake Livingston. On a cold and rainy morning he left to head home. Instead of his usual Livingston to Alvin route he chose to go through Huntsville. As he crossed the old Trinity River bridge on the Walker/Trinity county line an 18-wheeler owned by TDC and driven by an inmate swerved to avoid a collision and hit Piper’s car head on.and drove over the top of it.
Emergency crews responded and pronounced Piper dead. As they waited on DPs Trooper Sbjut to arrive on the scene and the body car several other pastors who had been at the seminar stopped as the bridge was blocked. One pastor walked up and told the deputy on the scene he needed to pray for the deceased man in the car. At first the deputy tried to talk him out of it but eventually allowed it. The only way in was through the back hatch. The preacher held Pipers only unbroken limb, an arm, and started to pray. At this point several other preachers contacted Piper’s church and told them of the crash but not the death. Immediately word spread and prayers were started through almost every church that was represented at the seminar.
Ninety minutes after the crash as the preacher in the car started to sing, Don Piper began to sing also. The preacher immediately jumped out of the vehicle and told first responders. At first they shunned him telling him Piper was dead. It was then a firefighter went to the car and within seconds started barking orders. A rescue truck was ordered from Huntsville and crews went to work getting Piper out with the only rescue tools available over 25 years ago. He was removed from the vehicle and loaded on the ambulance. First he was transported to Trinity to a clinic who was not able to do anything so he was moved to Huntsville. There to they determined Piper was to bad and Life Flight was called but due to the weather was unable to make the scene. With the crash happening at 11:15am in the morning, Piper arrived at Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center at 6:15pm that evening. He was in bad shape, one leg missing 4 inches of bone.
For the next 13 months he lay in bed looking at the ceiling. Thirty-four surgeries later and $6 million in hospital costs he has pretty much recovered.
Piper said that he actually went to heaven, stood at one of the gates and even saw his grandfather, two friends from high school that were killed in a crash and several others. They looked fine.
Since then Piper wrote a book , “90 Minutes In Heaven”, co-authored by now 85-year-old Cecil Murphey. Murphey has written over 140 books in his years including, “Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story”, Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential of Excellence” by Ben Carson. “Stolen: The True Story of a Sex Trafficking Survivor”,
Over the years Piper had been approached by many about doing a movie. None though wanted to do it the exact way it happened. Then he was approached by Randall Emmett who agreed to do the movie the way it happened. Kate Bosworth played Piper’s wife Eva, Hyden Christensen played Don Piper, and David Clyde Carr played Eva’s father. Eva’s father is notable as he was instrumental in raising Piper’s children as Piper recovered. But not only that, as Piper was about to speak to over 900 people Thursday morning in Conroe at Justice of the Peace Wayne Mack’s second annual Prayer Breakfast, Piper learned his father in-law had just passed away in Shreveport.
That didn’t stop him from inspiring many in the group with his fascinating story of his 90 minutes in heaven.
What was unexpected was at the end of his presentation. Little did he know that the Investigator with the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, who Piper had been sitting with and talking with through the breakfast was Retired DPS Trooper Swen Sbjut, the trooper who worked his crash in 1989. After Wayne Mack made the announcement , Piper and Sbjut talked and learned many things. One of the things Piper learned was that the 4 inches of missing bone in his leg actually fell off the stretcher as Piper was being loaded into the ambulance.
When Wayne Mack took office in Precinct 1 he immediately went to work and put several chaplains from every denomination across Montgomery County into a group. They are called out by either Mack or the Sheriff’s Office on scenes involving death. Each week several volunteer their time for this program.
Editors note: The movie is a must see. The presentation given by Piper was very involved and a person held on to each and every word. The video below is that presentation.
DON PIPER TALKS ABOUT HIS 90 MINUTES IN HEAVEN
INTERVIEW WITH PIPER AND SWEN SBJUT AND THEIR MEETING FOR THE FIRST TIME
WAYNE MACKS PRESENTATION
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