Have you ever had someone streak across your life like a comet? Lighting it up for a few months, and then--
That was Kevin.God's love on two feet. I met him in Divorce Recovery classes. He was there, leading a group, and then in the post-divorce therapy group for those of us who wanted to figure out more of our own part of what happened. We all were determined not to need to be in Divorce Recovery again.
Kevin was the most lovable Irish guy you'd ever want to meet! A leprechaun in spirit, if not in stature. Everyone adored him. He and I were buddies, really just good friends. The week that my divorce was final, I called him up, and told him that I had a job interview near his office in downtown Denver. Would he like to meet me for lunch?
Kevin not only met me for lunch, treated me to lunch, then he prepped me with a mock interview. After that, when I told him that I didn't know my way around downtown Denver very well, he said, "Follow me, I'll drive in front of you and show you where to park."
When we reached the right place, he signaled me to wait a minute. He rolled down his car window, and pulled something out of his wallet. "Here," he said, "This is my lucky Irish pound note. May it bring you luck on your interview!" Then he waved and drove off.
A few days later, I called him and left a message on his voice mail. "Kevin, I'm nervous about hanging onto your lucky Irish pound note. What if the exchange rate goes down while it's in my keeping? That's too much responsibility for me to carry."
I had another message on my voice mail. "Don't worry. I'll take my chances with the exchange rate. Keep it until I see you again."
Nine days later, he died of a massive heart attack at age 42. He'd gone to the ER three times, and had been sent home. His sister found him on his kitchen floor. I saw him next at the wake. I offered his dear son the Irish pound note, but he was just like his father.
"I have so many things of his. This is all you have. I'm sure he'd like you to keep it," he said.
Crisis Survival Rations came from the agony I was feeling after the loss of Kevin. I needed God's comfort in my wrenching, fresh pain. Kevin had been a friend during a terrible ordeal, so the loss of him brought back the trauma of the divorce as well. As a therapist, I knew God could use all of this to help others, and that this opportunity wouldn't present itself in quite this way very often. I laid it in God's hands in my desperate need for my own help, but as it began, God used it to heal me along the way.
As I wrote each "Ration," I'd pull out a favorite verse that had comforted me for years. I'd start to share something about it, thinking I knew where I was headed. Sometimes it ended up where I started. Other times, it ended up in a direction I had never even considered--so much better than I'd ever dreamed. The whole process was completed in 6 weeks. After the first several, I was feeling so much better, I had to put myself back into the frame of mind again for the sake of writing, to keep the voice the same.
Soon, friends were asking for copies, for themselves or for others going through crises, losses, suffering. That was in 1996. An AA group in New Mexico was using it at meetings for awhile. It took on a life of its own. I did seminars on it for awhile. The notes from the seminar became the little book, Crisis?What Crisis? I distributed about a thousand copies (I know, I have the Office Max receipts) before I put it on Amazon. It's cheaper that way!
The people who read it, love it. If you are in crisis, it will help. It helped even me. That's it. Not because of me, because it has God's truth in it.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
2 Corinthians 1:3,4
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