Michael Spehn - The Color of Rain: How Two Families Found Faith, Hope, & Love in the Midst of Tragedy
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- Book:The Color of Rain: How Two Families Found Faith, Hope, & Love in the Midst of Tragedy
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- Year:2011
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The Color of Rain: How Two Families Found Faith, Hope, & Love in the Midst of Tragedy: summary, description and annotation
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When unexpected grief brings two families together, how do they start their journey to healing? Join Michael and Gina Spehnbestselling authors and founders of the New Day Foundationas they tell their story of resilience, remembrance, and reliance on their shared faith.
Matt Kell and Cathy Spehn had known each other since grade school. As adults, they each got married, lived in their hometown, and attended the same church. Their kids even attended school together.
Matt died at home on Christmas Day after a three-year battle with cancer, leaving behind his wife, Gina, and two young boys. After attending Matts inspirational funeral and reaching out to Gina with offers of support, Cathy was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer. She died only 17 days later, leaving behind her husband, Michael, and three young children. In her final hours, Cathy instructed Michael to call Gina Kell.
The Color of Rain illuminates the stepping stones of loss and healing that ultimately led to a joyful new life for Michael, Gina, and their five children. Their path to becoming a modern-day Brady Bunch was paved with grief, laughter, and the willingness to be restored to a new and even better life despite the inevitable resistance they faced.
As you learn more about Michael and Ginas story, youll learn:
As their dual first-person narrative reveals what it is like to walk through loss and love simultaneously, youll have an intimate look at how Michael and Gina lived, lost, and ultimately persevered through extraordinary circumstances.
Praise for The Color of Rain:
The Color of Rain is a testament to Gods restoration and grace. Even in our suffering, there is beauty. It rarely makes sense, but its always true: He makes all things beautiful, in His time.
Katie Davis, New York Times bestselling author of Kisses from Katie
Michael and Gina Spehns The Color of Rain is not only an instant bestseller but also an instant classic, certain to be pressed into the hands of hundreds of thousands of grieving men and women by their closest friends, for it is a book that is painfully honest about the depths of sorrow but also full of the joy of the hard path back from near despair. It is another reminder that God is there, however dark the day, and that he will comfort those who call on him.
Hugh Hewitt, bestselling author and radio host
Michael Spehn: author's other books
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T hank you to Dan and Kathy Pelekoudas and Hugh and Betsie Hewitt, who by providence started a chain of events that has carried our story forward. We cant wait to see where it takes us.
To the first readers of our early manuscript, including Mel Spehn, Susan Kell, Toni Valenti, Meghan Kell, Rev. Dr. Karl Galik, Jeff Maerov, Josh Kilmer Purcell, Jack and Ana Maria Chrysler, Meaghan Dowling Chorsky, and Cynthia DiTiberio. Thank you for encouraging us to press on.
To Curtis and the entire staff at Yates and Yates, thank you for being the bridge to new opportunities and experiences. Your quiet strength and counsel have been invaluable and your friendship a true blessing. For you, it was never about platforms or marketability. It was about the story. Thank you for the laughter, patience, and willingness to take a chance on not one but two first-time authors.
We are incredibly grateful to our editor, Sandy Vander Zicht, and the phenomenal team at Zondervan, including Don Gates, Tom Dean, Becky Philpott, Robin Barnett, and Heather Adams, for giving our story wings. Together you have given the legacies of Matt and Cathy the chance to change lives. We deeply appreciate your passion and guidance.
To all of our parents, living and deceased, who did right by their kids: Bob and Toni, Dick and Dolores, Larry and Jill, Susan and Duane; and all those who make up the fun, faithful, and loving twists on our family tree, including Rick and Patti, Tara and Bob, Meghan and Eric, Lynn and Bob. We love you and are forever grateful for your support.
Big hugs and thanks to our circle of friends who love us unconditionally, make us laugh, and always enjoy a great meal! The good news is you wont have to hear about our writing this book anymore! Special thanks to Pastor Luke Timm, Chris MacCourtney, and our friends at Salem Broadcasting.
Mike and Colleen, thank you for your unwavering friendship and faith. Your relentless trust in God in the midst of extraordinary trials is a source of hope and inspiration. Its a privilege to walk alongside you through the joys and sorrows of life. Thanks for the endless laughter, honesty, and love.
To everyone who supports the New Day Foundation for Families, thank you for your dedication to loving your neighbor as yourself. Your generosity is a gift that gives hope to many families of young children who suffer the loss of a parent to cancer.
To our funny, smiley, smart kids who gracefully lived through the events in this book, lovingly grew new hearts, and patiently waited while we wrote about the most tragic and redemptive time in your young lives. Thank you for your gentle nature and faith in God. You make all four of your parents proud. Beautiful Charlotte, thank you for trusting us to share a piece of the secret you hold in your heart. Jack, thank you for your big hugs and big dreams. Drew, thank you for your passion for life and your trust. Sam, thank you for showing love and never giving up. Dan, thank you for the laughter and music you bring to our lives. We love you all so much!
Above all, we give thanks to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for all that has been lost, given, and received for such a time as this.
Michael and Gina Spehn, joined together by the loss of their spouses, co-founded The New Day foundation for families, which provides financial, emotional, and spiritual resources for families with children who have lost a parent to cancer. They are privileged to share their story and faith as speakers, and as hosts of a weekly talk radio show, Your Family Matters, in Detroit. Michael and Gina, along with their five children, make their home in southeastern Michigan.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Founded in 1931, Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Zondervan, a division of HarperCollinsPublishers, is the leading international Christian communications company, producing best-selling Bibles, books, new media products, a growing line of gift products and award-winning childrens products. The worlds largest Bible publisher, Zondervan (www.zondervan.com) holds exclusive publishing rights to the New International Version of the Bible and has distributed more than 150 million copies worldwide. It is also one of the top Christian publishers in the world, selling its award-winning books through Christian retailers, general market bookstores, mass merchandisers, specialty retailers, and the Internet. Zondervan has received a total of 68 Gold Medallion awards for its books, more than any other publisher.
A tall man in a white coat walks into the room without speaking. He has dark skin, dark wavy hair, and, as it would turn out, a slight Middle Eastern accent. Seven adults are gathered in the room now, but no one makes a sound and the man chooses not to make eye contact with anyone. He moves quickly and quietly to the bedside. He unfolds a stethoscope from his hands and inserts the earpieces. Although this is a routine task that he has performed a thousand times before, he is keenly aware that all eyes in the room are focused on his every move. He never looks right or left, nor acknowledges anyone seated around the room. He simply goes straight to work.
The man places the listening piece on the patients chest. He moves the stethoscope very slowly once, then pauses. He moves it again, gently, and listens. Finally, a third time. No one speaks. Not one sound can be heard. The nurse standing at the side of the bed looks away quietly.
Then the tall man in the white coat folds his stethoscope, glances nervously up at me, and speaks the only two words that I would ever hear him say.
My condolences, he says, and he leaves the room. It is 12:35 a.m. on February 28.
life is good
the fall
T he morning of my thirty-second birthday, I was already looking forward to dinner with my parents. Dad and I shared the same birthday and Mom was making our favorite, linguini with traditional meat sauce and meatballs, to celebrate. With a name like Antoinette Valenti, you know her sauce is ridiculously good. Ive yet to meet a person, regardless of how many vowels they have in their name, who can make a more tender meatball than my mother.
Bright sunlight bathed the kitchen in warmth. Two-year-old Drew had just finished eating oatmeal, and Sam was sitting in his high chair launching toys in between bites of Gerber baby cereal when the phone rang. My best friend, Colleen Schomaker, was calling with a solo performance of Happy Birthday. She sang at hyperspeed, so as not to actually sing, and then reminded me that I am still older than her. We said good-bye with a plan to meet for lunch.
As I hung up, the television caught my eye. Smoke was billowing from one of the World Trade Center towers in New York City. I leaned my elbows on the counter to watch on my tiny black-and-white kitchen television and called Colleen back.
Are you watching this?
Yeah, I know. Unbelievable.
We mulled it over for a few minutes and hung up again. By now, I had turned on the television in the family room. Sam was still in his high chair, happily being entertained by Drew as I watched a passenger jet explode into the second tower. My body recoiled with every replay of the plane entering the building. I sat on the coffee table in stunned silence and began to feel nauseated. My soul ached at the sight of incomprehensible suffering. With the rest of the world, I was riveted to my television on this otherwise gorgeous September day, helplessly watching America wounded and bleeding.
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